Walk through downtown San Luis Obispo and the Railroad District and listen to the words of 11 local poets when the city’s new Poetry Walk is unveiled on Sunday, November 15 from 1 to 4 p.m.
The city’s Public Art program partnered with SLO County Arts and SLO County poet laureate Caleb Nichols to create a community anthology of short poems now on display in public spaces.
The November 15 event begins at Triangle Park, 1701 Osos Street, with a guided walking tour that stops at each of 11 spaces to hear a reading of the poem at that location by its author. A short reception at the park follows the approximately two-mile walk.
For its inaugural year, the program invited writers and poets of all experience levels from across the county to respond to the theme “Place and Belonging.”
Ten selected poems, along with a poem by Nichols, are featured in sidewalk installations, on city buses, and in a downloadable map and zine, creating an accessible, self-guided public art experience. The poems are available online as well.
- STOP SCROLLING by Caleb Nichols
- Sweet Love Poem #1 by Anastasia Trevino
- Seven Sisters by Sarah Grieve Miller
- Dining at the Shelter by Cal Wilvert
- Sisyphus on the Beach by Todd Young
- At the Edge of the Aquifer by Mira Rosenthal
- Shadow Canyon by Kathryn deLancellotti
- A Locket of Haiku by Leslie St. John
- Ambers by Daniel Bulone
- NEW JUNE by Valentine Freeman
- Coming Home by Jennifer Chassman Browne
An exhibit at the City Gallery in City Council Chambers at 990 Palm Street shows the stencils that were created and used by local stencil artist Jason Towne to install the poems. It continues through December.