By TJ
Photo: Former Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Kimberly Blaeser
In celebration of National Poetry Month, the Winona Fine Arts Commission is very pleased to announce the final selections for the second year of the public art initiative: The Winona Poetry Walk.
This project consists of original poetry stamped into sidewalks and installation of the poems will be ongoing in summer and fall 2021. Stay tuned for a viewing and poetry reading celebration upon completion of the installations. The FAC requested submissions of original short poems (or parts of poems) and received a wonderful variety of responses. Ten poems have been selected by the following poets: Jerome Christenson, Michael William Doyle, Dan Eastman, Parker Forsell, Nancy Kay Peterson, Marcia Ratliff, Steve Schild, Sabrina Schlichting, and Lucas Stangl. The Fine Arts Commission has also continued their inclusion of one professional poet of renown or public title with a work by former Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Kimberley Blaeser. The mission of the WINONA Poetry Walk is to celebrate local writers, make the creativity of our residents more visible, and aesthetically and intellectually enrich our city. In addition to their scheduled installation locations, Winona residents have the opportunity to have a contractor borrow a poetry stamp and place a poem on the sidewalk outside their residence.