Life, death, and poetry on the Frankford El

Photo by Elvert Barnes via Flickr Transportation

Life, death, and poetry on the Frankford El Thom Nickels September 12, 2025 September 11, 2025

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Not all that long ago I boarded the Market-Frankford El at Front and Girard with the intention of taking it to Second Street to meet a friend at a coffee house. It’s a humdrum route I take all the time. Most days, no matter what time you take the train, there is standing room only. That’s how crowded the city is now.

But on this day I found a seat and opened two books, Thomas Devaney’s “Getting to Philadelphia, New and Selected Poems,” and Brian Selznick’s “Walt Whitman: Live Oak, With Moss.”

Devaney’s book was published by Brooklyn’s Hanging Loose Press. Be