A thought-provoking plaza with a Literary theme in metropolitan Los Angeles takes the concept of a poetry garden steps farther. Installed with funding from Prudential Realty Corporation which was assisted in coordination by Kathy Lucoff Arts Advisory Services, this poetic sculpture garden assembles a permanent collaborative of public art projects created by artists and poets. Turning the hardscape of Citicorp Plaza into a meditative journey for the corporate work force,"Poet's Walk" melds the impact of the visual with verse.

In the walkway along Eighth Street, "Puddles" of cast glass with fiber optic up-lighting by Peter Alexander and interpretive Japanese 15th-century poetry by Tim Rutten is the most recent collaborative installation in the "Poet's Walk" (1995). The mysterious remnants of some ancient ice flow or playful gems to skip and splash join eight etched granite bollards which trail towards the corner at Seventh and Figueroa Streets, subtle indications of where poet Robert Creeley and artist James Surls observed "Once There Was A Forest" (1989). The animals in this corporate forest are visible only as silhouettes, cast in bronze by artist Joe Fay and installed on a building face with verses with which poet Gary Soto imbues a human shadow in their "Natural Instincts" (1990). Routine human actions inscribed in words on the walls around an escalator in perpetual motion become art as artist Lawrence Reiner reduces actions to essence and poet Carol Kizer plays on words "Overall" (1990), while "Portals to Poetry" find their entre in an assemblage of found objects by artist George Herms and poetry by Charles Simic (1990). A map leads to poetry on granite tiles by April Greiman and a message from Lucille Clifton to listen to the "Earth, Walk, Talk" (1990). Two bronze castings by artist David Gilhooly and poet Robert Mezey comment on the process by which "The Public Abandons Philosopy" and "Pigeons Acquire Philosophy" (1990). If it is just too much to grasp in one visit, you may want to mimic the "Corporate Head" by artist Terry Allen and poet Philip Levine (1990).