Entries for St. Paul's annual Sidewalk Poetry competition are due March 15, and city officials are looking for more short, original poems.
Five winners will see their work cast in stone, so to speak. Actually, they'll be engraved in concrete on a sidewalk in the city.
They can be longer than a tweet: the rules say no more than 10 lines, 44 characters per line including spaces, and an overall total of 250 characters including spaces.There's a $3 submission fee, except for school groups, which can enter without charge.
This is the sixth year they've done this. When this year's five poems are enshrined on the sidewalks of St. Paul, there will be almost 50 poems 'neath our feet, in 700 locations around the city.
The program was created by the city's artist in residence, Marcus Young. Support comes from Public Art Saint Paul and the city's Public Works department. More support comes from the city's public art ordinance, the Saint Paul Public Library, The Saint Paul, F. R. Bigelow, Mardag and McKnight Foundations, ArtPlace America, and Readings by Writers.