How two young writers created a poetic commute for Fishtown SEPTA bus riders

Jenée Chizick-Agüero went to the Fishtown FestivALE on Sept. 24 with her husband, son, and neighbor to do community engagement for the magazine she founded and publishes, Motivos. She asked folks a simple question: “Do you like poetry?”

Chizick-Agüero didn’t expect the first response she got: “Poetry saved my life.”

The community member she met, Michael, said this as they stood nearby the new SEPTA bus shelter boards situated at Frankford Avenue and Palmer Street ,and Frankford and Dauphin Street, featuring poems by two Motivos poets, Brigitte Zigglih and Eliot Olaya.

“His answer surprised me,” Chizick-Agüero said. “I said, ‘Say that again!’ I wanted to make sure I heard him correctly.”

Michael, whose last name was not shared, agreed to share a video message with the poets, encouraging them to keep doing what they’re doing.

Motivos is a local publication printed in English and Spanish that aims to inspire and empower Latino youth. The magazine had never before been published in a setting so public as a SEPTA bus board.

“The part about it being in a public space is so important,” Chizick-Agüero said. “I love how Motivos can harness the power of media to reposition often negatively held perceptions of young people in the Latino, African American, immigrant, and under-resourced and often excluded communities. To harness that power to really change the narrative, you know?”

This shift in narrative was made possible by a collaboration between Motivos and New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC), which has a stewardship over the two bus boards now being occupied by the poems. When Chizick-Agüero realized that the signage on the bus shelters was outdated, she called and proposed that they use the space to highlight the creative work done by the youth participating in the magazine. NKCDC was all for it and plans to keep the poems up through mid-October.

“It’s a great location because it’s right between Penn Treaty High School and Kensington Creative and Performing Arts High School, so students from both schools use that bus stop,” she said. “And there’s a large Latino community here.”

Motivos students were welcome to submit their work, and Chizick-Agüero chose pieces from students that she thought were the most pertinent by young people who were local to Philadelphia.

“It was kind of a surprise,” said Brigitte Zigglih, a 17-year-old student of Girard College. “I submitted it to Motivos, but I didn’t expect it to be selected.”

Zigglih’s poem, titled “My Work Is Not Yet Done,” tells a story about anxiety, depression, paranoia, and what keeps her pushing through these obstacles. It’s not only published on the bus board but in the self-discovery issue of Motivos.

“I couldn’t get myself to do anything, really. Art, school, anything that used to come easily to me,” Zigglih said. “I came up with the title `My Work Is Not Yet Done’ because I didn’t want to be finished with the things I loved before.”

Going through each line of the poem, Zigglih explains how the piece ties into her experiences and struggles. “About six months ago, it felt like there was a guillotine over my head. That sounds dramatic, but that’s how it really felt, like I couldn’t move forward.”

“When I have anxiety my body starts trembling, so that’s why I put ‘my hands will start trembling like an old, cold dog,’” Zigglih said. “‘Fear mothers me and like a good child, I obey.’ Fear is like a mother because mothers protect you from harm. And obedience is synonymous with conformity.”

“I came up with the title `My Work Is Not Yet Done’ because I didn’t want to be finished with the things I loved before.”

Zigglih’s favorite parts of the poem come at the end. “‘I know my work is not yet done because the sun is forgiving today.’ When the sun is out, I feel like there is hope. ‘I know my work is not yet done because cowardice does not survive the springtime.’”

She hopes that people who see her poem at the bus stop realize that life is not yet over for them. “I want people to feel like there’s not a guillotine waiting for them at the end of the day.”

Eliot Olaya, a 23-year-old lifelong West Philly resident, believes there is much work to be done when it comes to freedom. In writing his poem “What It Took To Get Here,” Olaya considered that there have been many issues relating to freedom in his lifetime, but compared with 50 years ago, we’re in a better place.

“This is sort of a middle place of looking back and forwards,” Olaya said. “There were a lot of problems back then. But when we look ahead, there are still a lot of problems ahead of us. So things aren’t as bad as they used to be, but they could still be a lot better.”

His poem, which was part of a project between Girl Rising and Motivos to change attitudes and social norms around gender equity and education for women, is to be published in the forthcoming freedom-themed issue of Motivos.

“I wanted to write about freedom, how it is earned and how people have been pushing for it over the course of generations,” Olaya said.

Like Zigglih, Olaya was surprised to find his work being published on the SEPTA bus board.

“I didn’t think we’d be put up on a bus stop,” Olaya said. “People outside of my intended circle are now seeing what I’ve made. I hope that it makes people more aware that we’re not completely out of the woods yet, and there’s a lot that can still be done.”

Chizick-Agüero wants to show young Latino poets that their words matter, and are deserving of recognition.

Zigglih, unused to praise and a bit of an introvert, didn’t even want her classmates to see the poem she submitted, but her Spanish teacher insisted on it. “It actually brought her to tears,” Zigglih said. “She said she was really proud of me.”

“Things aren’t as bad as they used to be, but they could still be a lot better.”

“I could feel [Zigglih] beaming through the other end of the phone,” Chizick-Agüero said. “She was getting lots of kudos from her classmates now that she’s a published poet.”

Having known the students for a little more than a year, she has grown to know their personalities as well as their creative-writing abilities.

“Eliot has a deep creative voice that I really feel the world needs to hear more of,” Chizick-Agüero said.

Olaya is currently a journalist at Al Día News, and feels that working with Motivos kickstarted his career. “It was like a gateway step to journalism,” he said. “I want to thank Jenée and Motivos for introducing me to the world of journalism and writing for an audience.”