Bridge to Somewhere

I've never been to Minneapolis before, but last night at a karaoke bar a woman told me about the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge which she described as her "coolest poetry experience." The bridge features a poem by John Ashberry and is quite beautiful judging from the pictures of it online. I think the idea of integrating poetry into public spaces is wonderful and I would love to see more of it.

This photo is by Mykl Roventine who has a slew of cool galleries on Flickr.

Here's the poem, "Untitled" from 1988:

And now I cannot remember how I would

have had it. It is not a conduit (confluence?) but a place.

The place, of movement and an order.

The place of old order.

But the tail end of the movement is new.

Driving us to say what we are thinking.

It is so much like a beach after all, where you stand

and think of going no further.

And it is good when you get to no further.

It is like a reason that picks you up and

places you where you always wanted to be.

This far, it is fair to be crossing, to have crossed.

Then there is no promise in the other.

Here it is. Steel and air, a mottled presence,

small panacea

and lucky for us.

And then it got very cool.