May 2013 Pitch Night Winner, Meg Leslie’s poem: I want to tile a wall

I want to tile a wall.

It’s a dream that began from a page in a book with a picture of a wall

that Gaudi made

in the beautiful streets of Barcelona.

It’s a dream I found alive and well

and living in the heart of Isaiah Zagar

in the tough streets of south Philadelphia.

I want to tile a wall.

But I’m warning you now,

It will be beautiful.

My wall will be different than my mentor Isaiah’s.

My vision is Not just to encrust but to totally enhance.

And made from my hands!

(my head, my heart, my hands!)

And huge!

Bigger than I can imagine I can handle!

I want to tile a wall.

A wall, that when the sun shines, my bits of mirror reflect back at you

the brilliance of that day.

And maybe if you’re open to it, it will remind you

that you too can reflect light!

I want to tile a wall so that when it’s cold out,

you might look up and see it and it will warm you,

inside

like hot chocolate.

And you will pause

from what you were doing,

from where you were going

and you will wonder for a moment,

Who did that?

How’d they do that?

When did they do that?

But you won’t wonder why I did that.

You’ll know.

You’ll know, looking at that wall

that I was an artist and that that wall

was my dream

(and it came true.)

I want to tile a wall.

You can see all of Meg’s work at http://meglesliecreative.com/.