QUEENSBOUND

QUEENSBOUND is a collective artistic project rooted in the belief that poetry can be a powerful tool for community building and activism. Founded in 2018, the project brings together poets from across Queens to create a living, breathing archive of the borough’s voices, histories, and identities. By using the subway lines, a symbol of connection and movement, as its organizing framework, QUEENSBOUND transforms everyday public spaces into stages for poetic expression and solidarity. The project has forged connections between poets and neighborhoods, spotlighted underrepresented voices through multilingual works, and contributed to broader movements, including fundraising for Black Lives Matter and pandemic relief efforts in the borough’s hardest-hit areas.

In its evolution, QUEENSBOUND has continued to merge creativity with social impact. With support from cultural institutions like the Queens Museum, Flushing Town Hall, and Onassis USA, the project has become a platform for collaboration and visibility. From its inaugural launch aboard a 7 train to its 2024 revival featuring new poems in Nepali, Japanese, Spanish, and Ukrainian, QUEENSBOUND has used poetry to challenge boundaries, linguistic, geographic, and societal. Its vision for the future includes recording poems for all 120 subway stations in Queens, developing a site-responsive app for commuters, and hosting annual train readings and community workshops. By bringing poetry directly into public spaces and making it accessible to a wider audience, QUEENSBOUND embodies how art can foster civic engagement, cultural pride, and collective imagination.