Healing Verse Germantown — a poetry and public art program launched in 2024 to provide healing for community members impacted by gun violence — is set to unveil a new public art exhibition. 

In collaboration with Creative Philadelphia, the project will see the poems and works of 19 Germantown community members transformed into temporary public art installations.

Rob Blackson, public art coordinator for Healing Verse, explained to PHILADELPHIA.Today why the collaboration and subsequent exhibition came together.

“Not only [are we] blessed with many beautiful poets in Germantown, but there’s also just such a palpable appetite for strong public art with purpose in the city of Philadelphia, and definitely in Germantown,” Blackson said. 

Over the past year-and-a-half, Healing Verse Germantown has hosted several poetry workshops that have allowed community members to share the impact gun violence has had on their lives.

The poems are meant as a way to provide healing for what has been a very prevalent issue in Philadelphia for decades.

After receiving about 200 submissions for the installation, Blackson, and Healing Verse co-artistic leads Trapeta Mayson and Yolanda Wisher, narrowed the selection to 19.

Once the list was narrowed down, Blackson spoke with each of the poets individually to get a better idea of the backstory behind their poems.

“For some of these poets, these poems are memorials to loved ones, and for others, it’s a lament of some of the circumstances within our society that draws to violence,” said Blackson.

Selected Poets Share Inspiration

RuNett Ebo is one of the 19 poets whose work will be included in the new installation. 

A lifelong Philadelphian who has been writing for as long as she can remember, Ebb started writing at the behest of her mother, who encouraged her to write things down when she felt she couldn’t express things out loud. 

“Just so happened that the first thing I wrote down came out poetically,” Ebo told PHILADELPHIA.Today. “And I’ve been writing poetry ever since.”

Prior to getting involved with Healing Verse Germantown, Ebo has spent many years writing with the Philadelphia Obituary Project, whose focus is on gun violence victims in Philadelphia. 

“The reason I attached myself to that organization was because I always felt that the victims of any kind of violence really deserve to have their story told,” Ebo said. 

The notion that gun violence victims are just statistics didn’t sit right with Ebo “because it felt like we give more attention to the person who commits the crime, as opposed to the person who was victimized by it,” she said. 

Ebo, a mother of five, lost one of her sons to gun violence at the age of 26.

That personal connection drew her to the Healing Verse initative because she can relate and have empathy for others who have lost loved ones to gun violence.

Poetry writing has been therapeutic in helping her through the healing process.

“It even gives me inspiration to write other things because sometimes I’ll write one poem and then realize that it may evolve into something else,” Ebo added.

That inspiration also struck Andre Saunders. 

A creative primarily in the art and music scenes, the poetry workshops helped him tap into his poetry skills.

“The atmosphere was really good, the topics that they touched on … I was definitely inspired,” said Saunders. “I was able to shine because the room gave me inspiration.” 

He added that being one of the selected poets is “definitely an honor and a privilege.”

An Addition to Philadelphia’s Vast Art Scene

Philadelphia has a vibrant creative scene, and its art helps accentuate that.

“Artists are extremely active, and their voices really carry throughout the city,” said Marguerite Anglin, public art director for Creative Philadelphia. 

It can be seen and felt in ways that aren’t always immediately noticed. 

“Art and culture is embedded in every aspect of the city, how we experience it, and how others — when they come here — experience us,” Anglin added. 

Naturally, Creative Philadelphia collaborated with the creative leads at Healing Verse Germantown to apply for the Bloomberg Public Art Challenge.

This challenge asked cities to submit proposals on how they would use public art to address a civic issue that presented a great issue in the city.

When her poem is unveiled as part of the upcoming art installation, Ebo hopes it will help those who are carrying something with them to let it go because poetry has done that for her.

“It helped me kind of set [my son] free where he is no longer something that weighed heavy on me, but I’ll always remember him and I’ll always cherish the 26 years that we were able to spend together,” Ebo added.

Meanwhile, Saunders’ poem is a call to action for people to be dreamers.

“I know coming from the background that I come from, and that a lot of us come from as African Americans, we see a lot of harsh things,” he said. “But we also see the possibility of if we work hard or if we separate ourselves from those boxes, what we can accomplish.” 

When others see his work unveiled, Saunders hopes people will develop a more optimistic view of perseverance in the face of adversity. 

For Anglin — an artist in her own right — she hopes the installation will show how art, expression, and storytelling can be outlets for healing.

“I’m hoping that people can get a different sense of what they might feel public art is,” Anglin added.

Beyond the workshops and new art installation, Healing Verse also features a phone line. 

While the art installation will be temporary, the goal is still to make sure “those avenues to care and healing are always available,” Blackson said. 

Learn more about Healing Verse Germantown ahead of the new public art installation unveiling at the Friends Free Library on April 11 here. 

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on PHILADELPHIA Today in April 2026.