Poetry billboards
Multiple locations
Detroit
June 22, 2026
Lines from poems by Detroit students are finding a massive new font size on billboards across the city.
How refreshing it feels to see space normally reserved for advertisements turned into an artistic canvas and given to the future voices of Detroit. From the font to color palette choices, we’re big fans.
Now in its fourth year, the nonprofit InsideOut Literary Arts has taken the work of young student poets and posted excerpts on 12 billboards throughout the city, from a marina on the riverfront to a stretch of Michigan Avenue and just outside of Eastern Market.
“I am like this poem, never knowing what’s next.”
That’s a slice of Isadora Arambula-Harnois’ poem, which is featured on a billboard off of Harper Avenue on the city’s east side. The fourth grader from Boggs School read her poem directly in front of the billboard.
Can you imagine what it means for a young artist to see their work stretched across the sky on a billboard normally reserved for lazy advertisements?
If haven't seen them in the wild, the photos capturing the project do it justice. The locations provide excellent backdrops, like the featured photo above juxtaposed against the exterior of a casino, or a billboard floating above the water at a Detroit marina. One of my favorites is a poem-plastered billboard next to one of the seemingly endless advertisements for ambulance chasing lawyers, with the Fisher Building just out of view.
It’s a rich opportunity for artists in the city, and a refreshingly warm and creative analog approach to grabbing an audience (and, ultimately, attention for InsideOut's mission). Lafayette American, an advertising agency based in Detroit, helped the project come to life.
The billboards feature work from Cesar Chavez Academy, Garvey Academy, Hope of Detroit Elementary and Salina Elementary (Dearborn).
