As it goes about repairing sidewalks damaged by the snowpocalypse, the City of Cambridge is teaming with its public library and the Cambridge Arts Council to inscribe certain pits of repaved slab with original poetry from residents.
Residents of any age can submit up to two poems each. They have to be in English and no longer than 10 lines with 40 characters per line and 250 characters total (including spaces). The works can have been published before; they just have to be original to the writer. The deadline for submissions is April 12, after which time a panel will pick five winners whose lines will then be inscribed throughout town.
A similar seven-year-old effort in St. Paul, Minn., inspired the Cambridge project, called "Sidewalk Poetry." The best part? A Cambridge Arts Council leader tells The Globe's Steve Annear that the poems will draw a lot of eyeballs "because most people are looking down at their smartphones as they walk..."
· Sidewalk Poetry Program [Cambridge Public Works]
· Cambridge Offers Poets Chance to Make Their Mark on Sidewalks [Globe]