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"​​It Takes All Our Voices"

​It Takes All Our Voices

A Collaborative Piece
by
Dennis Hinrichsen, Greater Lansing Poet Laureate
 
Out of nothing a color
                                                            out of idea a word
Out of word a song
 
It takes a street and a vision
It takes a voice
                                             [your voice]
                                                                           my voice
Echo of that voice
 
It takes incubation                                                                       acceleration
 
Collaboration                                   a resource
 
A dream or design tested
 
In this place--
                                             where we live--
                                                                                          our place
 
It takes all these places
 
                              urban gardens                                  runways
 
all the voices
 
               co-worker                          scientist                              entrepreneur
 
*
 
Innovation possible on every corner
Spring rain sudden across the pavement
Capitol in full bloom
 
                                                            so many pieces
 
It takes imagination     endeavor                            and risk
 
A child’s face beaming
                                                         free and beautiful as a rare isotope
 
It takes clay and a wheel and a soft hand
 
It takes iron and brass
                                                                        the forge
 
Artisans of food and drink
 
It takes an assembly line of steel
                                                                                       and teamwork
                                                                                       and pride in the labor
 
*
 
Or deep water and deep-channeled currents
The feel of the river like the feel of a street
 
serene and solo we drive
 
Or in tandem in conversation across the landscape
 
It takes this
                          a corridor                           and an overpass
                          communities bridged
 
*
 
It takes openness and curiosity and a human touch
 
Maker and listener
                                                            a human yes
 
The one who paints or sculpts or builds
                                                                           and the one who benefits
 
It takes a mosaic
 
Creativity                            an equation
 
                                             expression
 
A realization in that space between us
                                                            the space that births us
                                                                                                                        is birthed by us
 
You can’t be what you can’t see
 
*
 
Wind walks the ledges near a river of dreams
 
That is one way of speaking
 
Or this
 
I have made this thing out of idea and effort and soul
 
Out of tolerance and humility
 
Does it please?
                                             Does it connect?
                                                                                                         Does it move?
 
*
 
There is art here and richness
                                                                                          a jazz richness
 
                                                                                          blues richness
 
                                                                                          mint richness
 
Our thinking
Sharing
Embracing
Living
               Culture

                                             Capitol City crowning the center of it all
Picture
Arts Council of Greater Lansing
1208 Turner Rd.
Lansing, MI 48906
(517) 372-4636
info@lansingarts.org

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Copyright © 2015
  • Home
  • Future
  • About
    • What is Creative Placemaking?
    • Steering Committee
  • Sponsorship
  • Summit News
  • Resources
    • The Current Conversation
    • Funding
    • 75 Place Ideas
    • "Our Lansing"
    • "​It Takes All Our Voices"
    • "Where You At?"
  • Past
    • 2015
    • 2016
    • 2017
    • 2018
    • 2019
    • 2020
    • 2021
    • 2022
  • Contact