Public Art

It is hoped that we will be able to have between 75 and 100 poems submitted from patrons of the Waite Park Public Library. From this group of entries a committee of library staff, city personnel and library patrons would select five poems to be placed in the new concrete. The final placement of the poems in the concrete will represent the final outcome and permanent nature of this project. The poems will be in place for years to come. The best outcome for this project will be in hearing the comments of children and adults as they discover the poetry in the cement as they go into the reading garden. The library staff is particularly interested to see how the children during story hours react when they see what one of their age group has created. We are also interested to see what a senior might say when they see their poem is part of the reading garden. Seniors have many reflections on life and we expect that will be in the poem that might be selected. One senior in a conversation with a park board member had quite a smile when he remarked that he hoped his poem might be chosen as he really is ready for the challenge and wants to do something that tells of his unique life. It is experiences like this that will be reflected in the poems that will become of this project. We expect that the poems that are submitted will reflect a good mixture of many creative ideas that reflect the makeup of the people who utilize the library. The review committee will select poems that truly have a meaningful message. As described above the best evaluation will be in the number of entries that we will receive for this project from library patrons. We expect it to reflect all age groups of people who use the library. From these entries at least five will be selected for inclusion as poems that will be placed in the cement. The looks of the children as they first see the poems during their story hours will be a good indication of how they feel about a poem. We expect to see many smiles if one of the children’s poem is selected to put into the cement. Another group that we have described above are the teenagers from the Area Learning Center which is near the library. It is our hope that we will receive entries from them. One of the English teachers is excited to make this poetry project part of her lessons for the coming school year. She stated it will be another link between the school and the library. We plan to also ask for veterans to submit poetry items for consideration. We expect that we will receive a number of entries from them. They really do like the library and have expressed great interest in the reading garden.