✽elle écrit✽: THOSE WERE THE DAYS

sidewalk poetry

Marcus Young, Saint Paul’s artist in residence, started an annual sidewalk poetry contest in 2008. St. Paul residents were invited to enter the contest to have their poems permanently installed in city sidewalks. Young conceived the idea after learning about the public works department’s annual sidewalk replacement program. Because of age and deterioration, the city replaces about 10 miles of sidewalk each year. “I like the unlikely pairing of poetry and sidewalk replacement,” Young said. “Sidewalks are clearly a necessity, yet creating beauty and mystery with public art is equally important. We must build well both the hard durable structures of our city and the soft spaces for our collective imagination." My poem, November, was one of the five poems chosen to be installed in 2009.

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Sunday, September 28, 2025

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

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