{"id":719011,"date":"2026-04-10T21:47:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:47:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/719011\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T21:47:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T21:47:22","slug":"healing-verse-germantown-uses-poetry-and-public-art-to-strengthen-community-bonds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/719011\/","title":{"rendered":"Healing Verse Germantown uses poetry and public art to strengthen community bonds"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Walking home from church in Germantown not long after her son died, RuNett Ebo heard a scratching sound and saw a bird caught up in plastic and struggling to get its neck free.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was ironic because that\u2019s how my son died. \u2018How can I free this baby bird?\u2019,\u201d she asked herself. \u201cI got my key out [and worked at the plastic] until he hit the ground. I thought \u2018oh, am I too late?\u2019 But then he got out and flew away. And in the direction that he flew, the clouds opened and sunlight came down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing that sunbeam, RuNett knew, \u201cthat\u2019s my baby. That\u2019s God letting me know he\u2019s got my baby. Hawkeye took flight.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was from there that her poem, \u201cHawkeye Took Flight,\u201d was born.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cHawkeye Took Flight,\u201d a poem by RuNett Ebo, being sewn onto a banner by artist Olivia Dwyer for the Healing Verse Germantown exhibition. (Heather J. Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

Now, Ebo\u2019s poem flutters on a golden yellow sailcloth banner hanging on a light post where a small sculpture of a hawk also sits, outside Germantown High School. That\u2019s where her son, Diallo Gray, affectionately called Hawkeye by family and friends, was once a student. The banner was created by textile artist Olivia Dwyer and the sculpture by Tim Rusterholz.<\/p>\n

\"\"This hawk sculpture is part of \u201cHawkeye Took Flight,\u201d a poem by RuNett Ebo, for the Healing Verse Germantown exhibition. (Heather J. Chin\/Billy Penn)<\/p>\n

It is one of 19 site-specific public art installations on display across the neighborhood and city as part of Healing Verse Germantown: The Streets Are Talking, a temporary exhibition on view for eight weeks, from April 11 through June 6. The exhibit is described as an arts-based intervention created to address the mental health wounds of gun violence in Germantown through the transformative power of poetry and public art.<\/p>\n

The project was crafted from 19 poems developed through a series of 10 community poetry workshops, with each poem\u00a0 then transformed into public art by local artists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The works include a collage poster series, brass letters embedded into sidewalk concrete, video installations, virtual reality poetry set against the night sky, interactive floral offerings, a stained glass panel on a SEPTA bus shelter and even a wraparound on a SEPTA bus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted people walking through Germantown to encounter these poems the way you encounter something unexpected \u2013 with a little surprise, maybe some delight, and provide something that stays with you,\u201d said Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta Mayson, the lead artists and curators of the Healing Verse Germantown workshops and exhibition. \u201cGermantown has always had this fire; we\u2019re just shining a light on what\u2019s been here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Darlene Wilson-Bennett, the opportunity to use her voice to recite her poem \u201cMama Song\u201d \u2013 written in the first year following the loss of her son, Justin Immanuel, and now featured in a short film by local filmmaker Eboni Zamani at the EMIR Healing Center \u2013 was an intentional choice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the film, a group of mothers who have experienced loss due to gun violence and found a supportive community at EMIR, recite the poem. The collective reading transforms one poet\u2019s grief into a shared testament.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what I do, it won\u2019t bring Justin back \u2013 so I honor him by choosing joy and living with a purpose,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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One of the exhibition\u2019s most far-reaching works is a piece inspired by a poem submitted anonymously by a Philadelphia police officer. The poem will be printed on 4-inch square cards and distributed to all 7,000 first responders across the city.<\/p>\n

The impact is also being taken on the road, both literally and figuratively, via a sidewalk installation outside Mighty Writers and via SEPTA bus shelters, posters and bus art.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the bus posters, six poems are featured through collage artwork by Tomarra Sankara-Kilombo:<\/p>\n