THE 7TH GRADE POETRY FOUNDATION

Description

From 2011 to 2016, 7GP published annual poetry anthologies resulting from the winning 7th grade poems generated through our sponsored poetry contests and produc es films of the winners reading their poems at 7GP-hosted communitywide events. 7GP develops and donates online lesson plans to assist educators to meet their curriculum goals and stimulate student poetry writing. Our newest initiative is the St. Louis Poetry Slab, a literary public arts project that involves the permanent engraving on public sidewalks of a form of highly creative writing named concrete poetry. The shape-inspired poems will be written by living St. Louis area poets of varying abilities and ages and placed throughout the bi-state region. The first poem was installed in Alton, Illinois in 2018. The second poem was installed on the tiled floor inside Terminal 2 at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Five more concrete poems are planned for installation in St. Louis, Missouri. More than 130 locations have been identified for potential installations in the 15 counties that make up the Greater St. Louis bi-state region, engaging 3 million residents and 25 million visitors to the area in literary public art.