Poetry is for life. And at Tweetspeak, we’re committed to helping that happen more and more, in a framework that includes 5 vital arenas, each of which we’re interested in highlighting and cultivating over time. Today’s profile takes us to North Beach San Francisco’s Language of the Birds. It’s a great example of the “paint it in the public square” effort listed among the full five.
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I’ve never considered polycarbonate and stainless steel, together with the fine aggregate of a sidewalk’s surface, to create an ideal combination for flight.
However, as the wall plaque explaining the site-specific sculpture Language of the Birds (created by artists Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn) at the corner of Broadway and Columbus Avenues in San Francisco suggests, that really just depends on how you want to fly.
Historically, ‘the language of the birds’ is considered a divine language birds use to communicate with the initiated. Here a flock of books takes off from the plaza to fly the urban gullies of the city. The fluttering pages have left a gentle imprint of the words beneath them. These serendipitously configured bits of local literature reveal layers of human culture, nature and consciousness.
The sculpture features illuminated books in flight overhead, with words embedded in the sidewalk below. This sampling of words in English, Chinese and Italian taken from works of over 90 authors with connection to the North Beach and Chinatown neighborhoods creates a very literal example of poetry in the public square.
Take a stroll past the words, try them in different combinations, and create a poem as you go. There’s life just waiting to take flight.
Featured photo by Sonny Abesamis, Creative Commons via Flickr. Post and sidewalk photos by LW Lindquist.
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See more poetry in the public square:
Wallace Stevens Walk, Hartford, CT
Learn more about the 5 Vital Approaches to Poetry for Life
- Earth Song Poem Featured on The Slowdown!—Birds in Home Depot - February 7, 2023
- The Rapping in the Attic—Happy Holidays Fun Video! - December 21, 2022
- Video: Earth Song: A Nature Poems Experience—Enchanting! - December 6, 2022
L. L. Barkat says
I love this. I love the breaking down of the poets’ poems that invites others to rebuild right on the spot. I love the cross-section of culture in the words.
What would it look like to do this elsewhere? And especially in places that could use a coming-together across cultures?
Maureen Doallas says
Love the conception of this piece (it’s considered performance art) and how it was created. As it’s from 2008, it wasn’t to be seen when I last visited San Francisco. Will put it on my list for the next trip out there.
It’s marvelous, especially when one thinks of the thousands of varieties of birds and the languages they speak, as well as all the myths and legends associated with birds, which fascinate me. And that it’s linked to writers and poets, Gary Snyder (so appropriate) among them. Poetry indeed!
L. L. Barkat says
And now I am thinking of your origami poem, Maureen.
There’s something very deep here. I feel you could write about it. Whatever it is 🙂
Marcy Terwilliger says
Bent Wing
Windows old with age,
Cracks in glass
Not broken
Need of replace.
Wind of cold comes in,
Opening my seams
Cold chills
Upon my spine.
Noise,
Through the hollow
Of the trees
Outside.
Earth moans,
At her changes.
My words,
Folded
Into a bent
Wing.
Catch the air,
Cold.
Fly away
Like a dove
Heavy
Are their wings.
Karen Mae Zoccoli says
What beautiful art and I really enjoyed the sense of freedom and possibility it gives. It inspired me, and so I wrote:
Parchment Birds
Words set upon air
form flying free
crisp steady pages
like parchment birds
cackling to see
who will hear
their loss or despair
their hope or love
in a verse, in a song
laid starkly bare
white papers on
a clear blue sky
mingling despite
what their poignant
senses might imply
from their leathered
spines that lay
shadows wider than
themselves by their
own display
ink lined letters
scatter in sun rays
upon the sidewalk
then lose their edges
on rainier days
as thoughts, emotions
tired for trying
surrender their original
settings unsure of what
might be implying
but letting go anyway
and thus being
the wingless birds
they portray, take us higher
than what we are seeing
Diana Trautwein says
This is terrific! Thanks, LW, for sharing it here.
Marcy says
The challenge to find the words on the sidewalks, turning the laptop in every direction to see these words and then try to write a poem that made sense, well, let’s just say I did try.
Spirit of the City
Spirit of the
city,
Her body
Her back
Endless options.
Come on
Fly away
Like the finches
Newborn,
That perch
With soft feathers
On sharp edges
To such dizzying.
Magical eyes
His trascorsa
Attitude,
Nothing.
Feels good
The whole
Geografic confine.
Smoulders,
Like revolved
Out of
A
Earthquake.
Another wonderful
Dream villa,
Won in seven days.
Thoughtful details,
Simple solutions,
I laughed for hours.
Hannah says
are you fu**ing kidding me????? that first foto,is stolen (screen) from my galery on instagram!!!!
I will pass this web page to police.
L. L. Barkat says
Hannah, welcome to Tweetspeak, where we don’t engage in pirating of photos. The photo is a Creative Commons photo, via Flickr, which you can see here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/enerva/14781380045/in/photolist-owbrj6-dKK38e-b9RLNx-9hYEtB-7aR9Vz-jR9gc-amM78X-Durcg-3wTj4-5JsMuP-8RfeSL-4xjJCN-53RH6G-afXJWj-4HyVGM-2fqC2-cKsCHw-po7JuN-8vZbgd-54vKL6-at4fmp-a638VL-569wMG-ojKqE1-nZ84gC-qco6Ks-pHTYsM-9euFo1-7BLEJA-pbE7bn-7LgbsQ-dFmkmz-dXnrVs-ebcm47-9dpnep-2TrH2r-nYWZce-nxR8Sz-nGKzPD-9rjMsG-p9i2hy-4uaHud-aFVwvH-RTDsN-9SqKY2-p5VvLN-mc7VUF-4cUV1h-4e3m7c-bRRzL4
Just to check and see if that Flickr artist perhaps took your Instagram photo, we did take the time to do an overlay and see that the photos are not identical. However, if you’d like to do the same and feel there is an issue, we encourage you to take it up with the Flickr photographer.
Again, welcome to Tweetspeak. How did you find us, Hannah?