Sidewalk Poetry 2
While out for a walk this past week in the Highland neighborhood of St. Paul, I came across some more sidewalk poetry. Last summer, after I posted a few of the sidewalk poems in my neighborhood of St. Anthony Park, Holly shared some background about this poetry that I thought I’d share:
I stumbled upon some of these sidewalk poems in my neighborhood two years ago. Then I discovered that the City of St. Paul started replacing broken sidewalks with poetry in 2008, to “transform the city walkways into a public book and create everyday moments of open-air reading.” Currently, there are over 40 poems imprinted on nearly 500 slabs of sidewalk throughout the city. The poems are written by residents of St. Paul and selected through an annual poetry contest. You can find contest entry guidelines, photos of sidewalk poetry, a video, and a map of the sidewalk poetry installments on the City of St. Paul website.
This particular poem caught my attention not only because it reminded me of Holly’s comment and the wonderful effort of the City of St. Paul to “create everyday moments of open-air reading,” but also because it seems suited for these days. Amid Syria, and unemployment, and government gridlock, and debates about treaties regarding weapons, and worldwide hunger, and all the rest, these seem like just the words for us to remember:
A little less war,
A little more peace,
A little less poor,
A little more eats.
Thank you, thoughtful resident of St. Paul.
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