You might be walking around campus and notice weird-looking golf carts adorned with a mug shot of some random ASU student. A poetic quotation from that person sits right next to it.
The quotations, each a part of a poem, are part of a public-art project called Moving Poems that literally puts poetry in motion.
I've seen poetry on display on the sides of buses and in public squares. But for ASU's Herberger College of Fine Arts and the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing to fund the placement of the poems on a golf cart is a new twist.
They give me something to look at as I'm nearly being run over by a golf cart. While my life flashes before my eyes, I can at least have some poetry to ponder.
I also partially wish I could get some of my poetry up there on the side of a golf cart. Sadly, that cannot happen. I have missed the deadline.
So here are some samples of some poetry that the public-art people will hopefully see and want to put on their golf carts:
Light-Rail Shuffle
Light-rail train
I can't wait to see you zipping through the city.
If you got shot down by the powers that be,
It would be a total pity.
Surely, you would bring increased revenue
All the way up and down Central Avenue.
Come on, Valley Metro Rail, light my fire;
You're the only streetcar I desire.
Ode to Subway
Thou art the greatest place to have lunch
To grab a bite for a spell
Yet there be only one problem whence I go to munch:
I can't ever quite escape the smell.
Yes you are toasted goodness in an elongated bag
Waxed paper hides the prize inside;
Yet after I have left your establishment,
My previous whereabouts I cannot hide.
Epilogue to the Student-Government Elections
You wore shirts of orange and blue;
You asked me if I'd vote for you;
The flyers I did collect;
Your campaigns I did respect.
The turnout was good, I'm not gonna lie.
All The State Press editors got hit with a pie.
But though we went online to ASU Interactive
The election, it became so protracted.
ASU Foundation Rocks My Socks
Oh ASU Foundation,
Thou art tall, dark and handsome.
Oh, ASU Foundation,
Thou art sexy, hot and then some.
The Big Man on Campus
Your neon lights and vacant storefronts turn me on.
It is you and only you
I see when I look to the North.
Thou art an office and retail complex, all in one.
Your huge, glassy facade will be where Michael Crow has his fun.
Well, I don't expect the people at the art school to pick up on this right way, but they'll come around. Hopefully my words will be rolling around on a campus near you someday.
Roses are red, Santa Claus' beard is white. Nicole Saidi is the editor in chief of this Web site. Reach her at nicole.saidi@asu.edu.
