Connecting Routes
In which Elayna announces their next book, a poetry collection written aboard public transit.
"Some streets in our lives can be sirens, calling us back to them again and again, like a piece of us belongs to them..."
These are the opening words to my next book, CONNECTING ROUTES, which is a collection of poems that were all inspired aboard SEPTA buses and trains, the local public transportation authority here in Philadelphia.
I've been riding these routes since I moved here in 2009 from Norristown, where I grew up and graduated from Norristown Area High School. Prior to moving to the city, all I knew of Philly was that it was the wonderous place my family had a pilgrimage to every year for the Thanksgiving Day parade, from the time I was seven till I turned eighteen. It was always me, my sister, my mom, and my grandfather, with other family members joining us here and there over the years.
It was with them that I first stepped out of Suburban Station at seven years old, when even the LOVE sign itself towered over me like a skyscraper. We would always go to the corner of 16th and the Parkway and get hot chocolate from the street vendor there. That cocoa at that crossroads on cold November mornings of my childhood is seared into me as something sacred. I knew then, I wanted to live in this big beautiful city one day.
And now here I am, after sixteen years of living here on Temple campus and in various other neighborhoods across North Philly. This city was the place I came two months after losing my mom, so I came here with an astonishing amount of grief stuffed into my college duffle bag. This city is where I had to grow up in a way that was so similar to, and yet so wildly different from my peers. I can still remember how painful it felt in those college years when fellow classmates would complain about the things their parents would do for them or send them or call them about when we were in school. What I wouldn't have given to call my mom and tell her about my classes and my day. Its something I never got the chance to do.
But even as I've moved buildings and neighborhoods over a dozen times in that span, one thing has been consistent, and for better or worse, that has been the plastic blue seats of SEPTA's, and the bus announcer voice who I've come to refer to as, "Magic Voice". She tells you (often unreliably) what stop is up next, and (only slightly more reliably) which routes you can transfer to from stations where multiple buses run. Thus the name of this collection, which I came up with wayyy back in those college days, originally imagining the project would be a documentary about the folks like me who take SEPTA everyday. As I, and my artistry, grew, it became clear that the way I wanted to share some of these profound experiences through was poetry, and so here I am. Putting my fourth book out into the world.
This journey of being an author continues to delight and surprise me every day, and I find I am more grateful than I feel I can actually articulate when it comes to the ways this city and its people have inspired me. I spent both Super Bowl wins drunk on Broad Street and remembered seeing the Pope Francis standees everywhere when he came to town. I remember cheering when I heard the Rizzo statue was getting taken down and cheering again when the Philly Pride flag got raised up for the first time, calling out the rampant racism that was making its way through the gayborhood. I graduated from college here, I almost died here (a few times), I went through six months of intensive therapy here, and I found more profound joy than I could have ever imagined here. No matter where I go, Philly is always going to be part of me, and so this book feels like one small way I can give a piece of myself back to the city that shaped me.
I hope you'll give this one a read–or a listen, as it will mark my first audiobook release–when it arrives in the world on June 24th! I have some really exciting partnerships and events planned for the launch of this one in a few spots around the city, so stay tuned here or over on my newsletter to find out when/where those will be.
If you are someone who works with the media or who would like to review the book for your website or socials, please drop me and the press a line at elixirversepress@gmail.com and we'll be sure to get back to you!
Featured Photo by Elayna Mae Darcy
SO HYPE