Poets are hardy souls. Three Evanston poets and a proxy for two others braved the stinging rain and wind of Oct. 19 so the City could formally recognize their works: a poem by each of them stamped into the concrete of the front sidewalk of the Main Library. Alicia Berneche, Charlotte Hart, Toby Sachs, Ethan Plaut and Susan Gundlach were the winners among the hundreds of Evanstonians who entered the City-sponsored poetry contest.
Josh Barney, chair of the City’s Public Art Committee, said the project, a collaboration between the Public Art Committee and the Public Works Department, “was uniquely Evanston – open only to Evanston residents, enhancing the space, supporting the building and giving insight into the community. “He added that the project was modeled after one in Minneapolis.
As wind and rain intensified outside, the small gathering of devotees of Erato, muse of poetry, gathered inside, in the community meeting room of the Library, where the entire program but the ribbon-cutting took place.
Mr. Sachs, Ms. Gundlach and Ms. Berneche read their poems, and Eloine Plaut – mother of Ethan and friend of Ms. Hart – read the other two. Saluting the events of the evening, Jessye Wright and Kyle Dougan joined Ms. Berneche, a colleague of theirs from Light Opera Works, in singing “Hail Poetry” from “The Pirates of Penzance.”
Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl said the event was “a terrific example of public art in Evanston. It is totally Evanston.” Alluding to the fierce weather, she added, “You want to know how quickly I can cut a ribbon? Very, very quickly.”
Mayor Tisdahl was true to her word. Poets and their friends and families strolled down the sidewalk ramp in the gathering darkness and intermittent rain, reading concrete Evanston poetry.
The Poems in Concrete
The Poetic Foot
By Alicia Berneche
Your feet scan these words
And feel the vibration of meaning
Through their soles.
Poetry is motion
And the rhythm of bodies
That pound their stories
Into the earth.
Snowflakes
By Susan Gundlach
Flitting spots of white
Lighting on dead flower stalks:
Winter’s butterflies.
Clark Street Beach
By Charlotte Hart
Lake Michigan smooth
sunrise barefoot wedding
kissing laughing
tux pants rolled up
gown held above sand
We were the old couple walking by
Holding hands.
Research
By Ethan Plaut
My poems
Are research
Into how
The perfect
Conversation
Would sound
Just in case
I should find
The person
With whom to
Have it
[Footprints]
By Toby Sachs
You may step where I step
But you may not walk in my shoes
Unless you try