Saint Paul, MN
SECOND-FLOOR SAINT PAUL
In Saint Paul, when winter comes,
we go upstairs.
We built another city above the city, heated, windowed, five miles long.
The signs tell you what comes next
and, in smaller print, what comes after.
More information about the future
than most of us get.
Some storefronts remember being stores.
Some counters remember lunch.
Sometimes your footsteps are
the biggest event of the day.
But when the wind off the Mississippi
arrives with a personal grievance,
nobody says,
“You know what would be lovely? Street level.”
Minnesotans looked at winter
and built hallways over downtown.
Call it passive-aggressive urban planning.
Still, somewhere ahead is another door.
So bring back the coffee. Sell me a momo.
Play some music. Read a poem.
Saint Paul already built the bridges.
Now we have to fill them.
ABOUT THE POET
Joan Giardina is a retired elementary teacher from New York City, who moved to St Paul five years ago with her husband to be closer to her daughter and her family. She is not a professional poet but has always written creatively. She is equal parts, grateful for and frustrated with the Skyway that connects her apartment building to her adopted town.
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