Songs from the F Train is a compilation of poems written by three Brooklyn school children and set to music by Gilda Lyons. The students were participants in a poetry workshop led by Brooklyn writer Angeli Rasbury in Fort Greene. This composition is the first commissioned work of American Opera Projects' program I Hear America Singing. Inspired by the poem by Walt Whitman, I Hear America Singing is a new music initiative that commissions composers to create operatic songs based on the poetry and prose of Americans of all ages and all walks of life. Created by American Opera Projects and the Walt Whitman Project in 2009, I Hear America Singing seeks to express the varied thoughts, feelings, and stories of the people of our nation into a communal voice that will resonate for all.