MN poetry: Sasha Aslanian’s “the robins”

Poets tend to be a modest, covert lot. They walk amongst us, and yet we may have no idea who they are. Case in point: I've known MPR reporter/producer Sasha Aslanian for 18 years, but only discovered this week that she's a poet. Did she tell me? No - I stumbled across one of her poems on the St. Paul Sidewalk Poetry website. It turns out her words are imprinted in cement in nearly a dozen locations around town. I guess good poets just let their poetry speak for itself.

the robins

we notice them in the yard

our first spring

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a couple searching to build

mud and snarls of straw

over the back door

sacred blue eggs inside

next year they come back

and choose the front door

then the garage

flattered

we never dismantle the

safe places of ten springs

- "the robins" by Sasha Aslanian, as imprinted in the sidewalks of St. Paul. Reprinted here with permission from the author. You can read Aslanian's poem - once the snow melts - at these locations.