Santa Clarita Sidewalk Poetry Project

Congratulations to Our 2021
Sidewalk Poetry Winners.

The Sidewalk Poetry Project stamps original poetry into sections of damaged sidewalks that are being rehabilitated, so final locations will be determined by availability. Selected poems may be placed near parks, bus stops, trailheads, crosswalks, schools, or shopping centers.

The theme for 2021 is Poetry of Place and Community. Poems reflect the cultural, natural, and shared spaces in Santa Clarita. A dedication ceremony will be planned sometime later this year.

2021 Sidewalk Poetry Winners

Ten poems were selected as the winners of the 2021 Sidewalk Poetry Project, from more than 80 total submissions.

Michael Tri Lee

Here the sun hums a broken song.
Of cracked concrete,
sleepy hills, and bleached bark.
Torrid nights wail for daybreak,
restless and unafraid.

Lisa Poff

This valley is home
to Oak of the Golden Dream,
a found rainbow’s end.

Fatema Baldiwala

Craggy rocks of Vasquez bluffs
Kirk battles Gorn on Star Trek
A favorite of movie buffs
Yet, few know it’s a throwback
When outlaws ruled roughneck

Tori Folz

unity rings out in Lang Station –
the echo of mallet striking
golden spike announces
marriage of north and south
by steel rail ribbons

Jolie Lisenby

Santa Anas sing their song,
chorus of canyons & golden oaks
fill the valley as they embrace
the soul struck stars that burn
for Placerita nights.

Sophie Rundus

Sunny hot weather
Wild wind whistles through valley
Dry high desert home

Wendy Fontaine

Poetry should move like a bird
swooping toward a nest
tucked beneath the eaves
of a small brown house.

Kaelyn Peay

Bison and cowboys
and pour-over coffee –
the tastes of new decades
settle in layers like silt
in the valley.

Kevin Alterman

Like cracked pavement
Our spirit is not broken
But exercised by existence;
We better ourselves here
And fine meaning in the scars

Caroline Laganas

Tonight’s full moon drowns
our city in a white sea –
the night sky’s buoy.