A DUMBARTON poet’s work will be displayed across the pond in a Wisconsin town’s public transport system.

Local writer Stephen Watt, who first began writing poetry at the age of 19 after a double assault led him to use creative writing as a therapeutic means, has won the Madison Bus Lines Poetry Project – a Madison, Wisconsin based poetry competition which welcomes poetry submissions steered towards celebrating bus journeys, experiences and positive aspects of travelling.

Stephen was chosen alongside 25 other poets for their work.

He said: “I stumbled across the Madison Bus Lines Poetry Project which gives people the chance to have their poems published on the side of metro buses (three lines), inside the buses (five lines) and/or online (14-lines).

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“I’m drawn to unusual opportunities. I’ve had work displayed in a gallery in Paris, a church in Germany, a train station in Paisley, and so this appealed greatly to me. Five lines and 14 lines isn’t very long so making the content count was important.

“One key detail I missed, or rather, that it wasn’t advertised as so, was that it was meant for residents of Madison. When my poems were selected, I tendered apologies to the Poet Laureate Angela Trudell Vasquez, but she said that she was very happy with her choices and did not have a problem with my work being featured.

“My poem ‘Shuttle’ will appear inside the Madison metro transit buses upon the upper advertising boarding. My other poem ‘Blue Moons’, about visits to my friend in Inverness after she moved away from Glasgow and I didn’t have a car so used the Megabus, will appear online on the City of Madison Metro Transit website.”

On the back of his bus-displayed poetry, Stephen, who is also Dumbarton FC’s poet-in-residence, has written to Scottish Citylink to try and get some similar pieces of art displayed on their buses.

He said: “There are ideas from other countries - Poetry Jukebox, poems upon banners hanging from lamp-posts, poetry stones on hills etc- which I am always keen for Scotland to embrace.

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“There are a lot of successful methods embracing poetry in the world just now, and I feel that the metro transit competition is one which would work well in our country.”

Stephen is also the current Dumbarton FC poet-in-residence, a position that he has relished. He said: “I’ve been lucky enough to be the club poet for 4 years now. It has entailed ‘Diddy Cups’ poem film for the cup final; writing for the match programme about what I see happening around the club at the time; entertaining the supporters through live performances (spoken word before matches, Sons Trust Burns Supper, etc), winning the ‘Poets & Penalties’ and ‘Bools n’ Bards’ trophies on behalf of the club.

“It’s been about raising DFC’s profile and bringing an artistic side which had been missing before - to engage with our fans, the media (ie ‘Off The Ball’ appearance, podcasts etc), and of course with followers of Scottish football in general.”

And Stephen has a few tips for any fledgling local poets wanting to get their work out there and become part of the scene: “It’s greatly important to attend as many spoken word and open-mic performances as possible to understand rhyme, rhythm, and reason. Scotland has a wonderful spoken word community covering a broad range of subjects and listening (and reading) to other poets will greatly enhance your own writing.

“Meantime, make every line count - there’s no room for filler.”