Alice Chasing Rabbit-Shoes

Street Shoes 12a, originally uploaded by MaryWit.

I came unexptectedly upon the most extrordinairy sight yesterday. A long stretch of Old Ballard Ave. telephone poles with shoes with snippets of poetry written on them screwed to the poles. I was enchanted and followed the poles nearly to the Ballard Bridge nearly a mile away. Mesmerized, I took snapshots of the the shoes. It turns out that it is a public art/poetry installation by local poet A.K. "Mimi" Allin. Here's how she explained it in a blog entry on My Ballard.com:

"50 pairs of poetry shoes (with dahlias), nailed to telephone poles on the north side of Old Ballard Ave. 100 spoons installed on the east side. This was a 2nd incarnation for these shoes. They were originally installed in Tieton Town Square, for LitFuse 2008, as a public art project called “Spoon River.” The installation is based on the classic American book of poems, Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. Fellow artist, Frank Junk, suggested showing them off at Art Walk, so together he, Sage and I pushed a shopping cart full of shoes up the Ave, drilling them into poles and talking to passersby as we went. Each shoe represents a deceased character from the fictional town of Spoon River. Character’s names appear on the back heels of the shoes. Read together, Masters’ 244 poems depict life in small town America at the turn of the century. Few people are familiar with the book nowadays, but it saw 70 printings after being published in 1915! I found a copy at Abraxus Books. I hope you enjoyed them. "

I did indeed enjoy them--the mystery, the playfulness, the joy and delight. The world needs more public poetry and art. Buskers and street artists (not taggers), poetry scrawled on back alley walls express a fundamental howl --laughter or tears-- of the human soul. It's success is not dollar driven (though tips and donations are gratefully accepted) nor does it depend on corporate marketing schemes. A gift to all who take the time to notice. I am profoundly grateful to the artists, poets, performers and musicians who take the time to share their gifts.

You can see the rest of the poetry shoe snapshots I took here: http://flickr.com/photos/marywit/sets/72157609398131248/