My mom was just absolutely thrilled. And I think my mom has been more excited about the billboard than a lot of other sort of poetry accomplishments that I’ve had in my life.
—M. Bartley Seigel, Michigan Words Poet
The inspiration for Michigan Words stemmed from a desire to make poetry a shared experience—accessible and visible to all Michiganders. Poetry often lives in books, workshops, or private spaces, but I wanted to bring it into public life in a way that invited community participation and reflection. I wanted the poets and their neighbors to feel pride in seeing words written by living people in their community on billboards, big and towering above our landscapes. The billboards are a perfect canvas for this aim, as they offer an everyday encounter with language, blending into daily commutes and mundane routines, yet striking enough to prompt pause and thought.
Working collaboratively with the poets to design each billboard was one of the most rewarding aspects of the project. I selected poets who truly represent Michigan’s geographic and cultural diversity. Brittany Rogers from Detroit, Jonah Mixon-Webster from Flint, and M. Bartley Seigel from Houghton are three powerhouse poets from three very different regions whose work resonates with communities across the state. I worked with the Library of Michigan to create a universal design, but I wanted the authors to have full control over the work they shared. All I gave them was a line limit, and they had full creative license to say what they wanted. The poets did not disappoint. Each provided deeply personal poems that resonated beyond their individual contexts, both excellently crafted and speaking from a strong sense of place.
When deciding where to locate the billboards, I wanted each location to have balanced visibility—places where commuters or pedestrians would naturally encounter the billboard—with the potential to resonate within the surrounding community. This careful placement ensured that the lines of poetry would be seen and felt as part of their environment.
I am happy to see the impact of this project. Recently, during Living Writers, a weekly radio program that featured the three Michigan Words poets, M. Bartley Seigel shared how much the project affected him personally, saying, “My mom was just absolutely thrilled. And I think my mom has been more excited about the billboard than a lot of other sort of poetry accomplishments that I’ve had in my life.”
Jonah Mixon-Webster emphasized the deep connection to community, explaining, “This experience has been life-changing in a communal sense, as far as engaging with the community that we come from in ways that we’ve never seen before.” Reflecting on the personal resonance of a billboard’s location, he shared, “That billboard is actually right around the corner from my grandmother’s house, right in between the church that I grew up in and the gas station that I go to every day.”
Through Michigan Words, I hope Michiganders will experience the transformative power of poetry in their everyday lives. By encountering a line of verse in an unexpected place, perhaps they will pause and see their world—or themselves—differently, even if just for a moment. I want these billboards to remind people of the beauty and complexity of their own lives and communities and to offer solace, inspiration, or a sense of connection. For some, it may be the first time they’ve thought of poetry as something accessible, something for them. For others, it may reaffirm a love of words they already carry.
Ultimately, I hope Michigan Words serves as a bridge—between people, between regions, and between the poet and the passerby. It’s a project that celebrates Michigan’s voices and reminds us all that poetry, like our shared landscapes, is everywhere—waiting to be noticed and embraced.
Nandi Comer is the author of Tapping Out (Northwestern University Press, 2020), which was awarded the 2020 Society of Midland Authors Award and the 2020 Julie Suk Award. In 2023, Comer was appointed poet laureate of Michigan. In 2024, she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship. Comer launched Michigan Words, a statewide billboard campaign celebrating contemporary poetry in Michigan. The billboards featured excerpts of the work of contemporary Michigan poets, along with QR codes directing viewers to the Library of Michigan’s website where individuals can learn more about the program. To learn more about Michigan Words, visit the Library of Michigan’s website.