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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.
“I thought it was ironic because that’s how my son died. ‘How can I free this baby bird?’,” she asked herself. “I got my key out [and worked at the plastic] until he hit the ground. I thought ‘oh, am I too late?’ But then he got out and flew away. And in the direction that he flew, the clouds opened and sunlight came down.”
Seeing that sunbeam, RuNett knew, “that’s my baby. That’s God letting me know he’s got my baby. Hawkeye took flight.”
It was from there that her poem, “Hawkeye Took Flight,” was born.
Now, Ebo’s 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’s 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.
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.
The project was crafted from 19 poems developed through a series of 10 community poetry workshops, with each poem then transformed into public art by local artists.
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.
“We wanted people walking through Germantown to encounter these poems the way you encounter something unexpected – with a little surprise, maybe some delight, and provide something that stays with you,” said Yolanda Wisher and Trapeta Mayson, the lead artists and curators of the Healing Verse Germantown workshops and exhibition. “Germantown has always had this fire; we’re just shining a light on what’s been here.”
For Darlene Wilson-Bennett, the opportunity to use her voice to recite her poem “Mama Song” – 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 – was an intentional choice.
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’s grief into a shared testament.
“No matter what I do, it won’t bring Justin back – so I honor him by choosing joy and living with a purpose,” she said.
One of the exhibition’s 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.
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.
For the bus posters, six poems are featured through collage artwork by Tomarra Sankara-Kilombo:
- “The Compass” by Jewel Harris, reimagining public transit as a pathway to healing;
- “What Living Really Is” by blew kind, owner of d’griot cafe on Maplewood Mall, who reflects on the generational impact of trauma and systemic violence, and the liberatory potential of poetry;
- “Outside My Window” by Carmelo Whitehead, who remembers their childhood in Germantown sitting by his grandmother’s window;
- “Maplewood” by Cass M. Arrington, reflecting on the poet’s memories of the sound of guns outside juxtaposed with the feeling of love inside home;
- “Bullets don’t bloom” inspired by the intersection of Chew and Chelten avenues, where poet Mars Santi reflects on disconnection and tension, and how to meet human needs.
As a participant in a past Healing Verses workshop, Sankara-Kilombo said the effort has had a huge impact on the neighborhood. “The workshops were really helpful in processing the loss of my cousin.”
“Being part of the community, I knew many folks and leaned into their personalities. It was a great collaborative effort in that sense. Taking power in themselves to transform their grief is life-changing.”
A model for healing in other neighborhoods
For Philadelphia city officials at Creative Philadelphia, which helped support the exhibit, the Healing Verses project is a potential “model for other neighborhoods across the city to use art as a tool for expression and healing, for gun violence and any other healing we all need in this city for many reasons that we are going through at this time,” said Marguerite Anglin, public art director at Creative Philadelphia.
“One of our core goals with this project is to expose and introduce many people throughout the city to art as a tool of healing. We know and hope this will leave a lasting legacy in Germantown, not just from what they see with their eyes and what they hear with their ears, but what they are feeling in their hearts.”
One of the poem-art installations that will definitely have a lasting legacy is Andre Saunders’ “DREAMERS,” which is embedded into the concrete outside the Mighty Writers youth workshop center’s entrance and will stay there beyond the exhibit’s June 6 end.
“I was inspired by a workshop, the energy in the room, and wanted to make sure I’m reflecting on what’s going on, not just shedding negative light, but being optimistic and providing hope to people as well through difficult times,” he said. “Seeing it come to life has been exciting, humbling, grateful. Definitely appreciate it and don’t take it for granted. I hope it inspires people.”
“I remember being a kid and performing in Vernon Park for the Germantown Poetry Festival as part of that poetry team,” Saunders said, noting that Healing Verse co-organizer Yolanda Wisher was also his writing coach as a kid. “To reflect on where I came from and where I’m at now is a great experience and what hard work does and what belief in myself does.”
Looking forward, Saunders is also partnering with Mighty Writers to teach creative hip hop classes as an after school program at Philly schools.
Healing Verse Germantown will also have public programming and guided tours scheduled throughout its run. A digital archive will also serve as a permanent record. And the poetry phone line at 1-855-POEMRX2 remains open.