Under the freeway at 4th Street and University Avenue in Berkeley, CA there is an  art installation  by artist John Wehrle, featuring a poem by Betsy Davids. I used to sit under that freeway waiting for the bus all the time and reading that poem over and over, with thee freeway flowing right over my head.

 

I made these collages based off of the memory of sitting with that poem. I used images I've taken of the freeway right behind my house in Oakland, and the Bay at the Oakland shoreline. I also used maps of the watersheds and creeks of the East Bay - many of which still flow hidden under the freeways. 

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Looking West the poem reads:

BYE BYE FOG SEE YOU LATER
TELL THE EGRETS WAIT FOR ME
GIVE MY LOVE TO SHORELINE BREEZES
SO LONG OCEAN VIEW
WE’LL BE BACK BESIDE THE BAY
SURE AS TIDES AND SUNSET

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And looking East it reads:

WELCOME BACK
HERE YOU ARE WHERE BEACH WAS
WHERE ANCIENT PEDESTRIANS
GATHERED OYSTERS AND ACORNS
WHERE TRACKS CROSS SHELLMOUNDS
WHERE HIDDEN CREEKS AND FREEWAYS FLOW