Lee Butler was inspired to write Belt Lines upon being introduced to the Beltline, a 22-mile loop path encircling Atlanta, Georgia that retraces a former railway corridor. She quickly became enamored of the site, and paid tribute to it by spending two hours each Saturday on the Beltline's Eastside Trail reciting a new poem about the Beltline's people, natural beauty, artwork and architecture. The result is 155 poems over the course of many years.