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When Todd Boss wants to honor poetry, he tends to think big.


As founder of Motionpoems, he has spent the last few years linking poets with filmmakers to make short movies from poems. Until now, the animations have really only been available online.


 
But this weekend, Motionpoems aims to make a splash by taking poetry to the city streets. Friday and Saturday, the St. Paul-based company will bring words to life across the Union Depot's historic facade.


 
"We are hanging nine 35-foot screens in between the pillars of this building" Boss said. "Yeah, it'll kind of look all wrapped up."


 
The aim is to make a giant canvas for poems selected in a statewide competition on the Depot-appropriate theme of "Arrivals and Departures." They will include animation by the Minneapolis-based Pixel Farm production house, which collaborated with film and video artists from around the country.


 
"We'll be projecting from atop the parking lot over there, across the street onto the entire facade of the building," Boss said. "The whole thing will come to life."


 
Among the four poems picked for the display is "I am gone" by Robert Dougherty, a moody exploration of life on the rails.

"Carousel" by Linda Back McKay gives a carnival horse's circular perspective on arrivals and departures.


 
"Reading Gwendolyn Brooks on the 14A" by Mike Rollin captures the experience of riding the city bus in winter.

 
A couple of the poems are quite short, but their films play out over three or four minutes. They are designed specifically to be shown at the Depot. Characters in the movies sometimes seem to slip behind the buildings tall stone pillars.


 
As poet Brian Beatty prepares to read his poem, "The Hobo Alphabet," on the steps of the Union Depot, he notes that the Hobo Alphabet is a system of secret signs developed by Depression-era train jumpers.


 
Beatty, a bear of a man, with a barrel chest partially covered by an impressive gray-flecked beard, said the hobos used it to tell other hobos about good places to stay, and to avoid.

My home town's an archeology of hidden signs


So no matter which street a guy turns down these days,


Stuck in a parade of stalled cars with all the others.


With clouds of dust billowing up behind me


Beatty has not yet seen the film based on his poem. He wanted to experience it first as it's designed to be displayed, splashed across the Depot facade.


 
The Motionpoems screening coincides with the St Paul Art Crawl. The films will be clearly visible to the crowds passing through the Lowertown neighborhood Friday and Saturday between dusk and 10.30 p.m. The 10-minute program will run on a continuous loop.


 
Boss said the organization is recording the event and will also remaster the films for distribution online.


 
For artists like Beatty, having their work made into a Motionpoem couldn't be more exciting.


 
"I have always been a fan of alternative venues, and this may be the most alternative yet," Beatty said. "I've had recordings of my readings shared with other public arts projects but not at this scale."

Arts and Culture

Euan Kerr

Author

Poems will be brought to life across the Union Depot's historic facade Friday and Saturday.

Motionpoems takes animated wordplay to Union Depot heights

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