Portals to Poetry, (sculpture).

Portals to Poetry, (sculpture).

Herms, George, 1935- , sculptor.

Simic, Charles, author.

Portals to Poetry, (sculpture).

Door, (sculpture).

Painted steel, bronze and found objects, including a ball, cogs and door frames.

Approx. H. 12 x W. 12 ft.

(On plaques on sculpture:) Step up to the door./Softly, softly/As if approaching/A house of cards./Bare feet allowed./Dogs allowed./The sun and the moon and the evening/Wind allowed./In the shadow of this door/You'll play in the smallest theaters/With a bit of dark gravel/And a solitary white bread crumb./The door that thinks/With your eyes/Thinks and thinks/Even while you're away./If you can find a doorstep,/Carry your bride over it/And leave your shoes behind/Alone with the night falling./If you can see a keyhole in this door,/Put your ear against it/And listen to the sounds of love/On the other side./Don't try to open the door./The child you were once/Will come out with eyes blindfolded/And lose itself in the crowd./The door opens by itself/While you sleep./All keys you ever lost,/All rusty keys/Lie behind it unused./The door opens by itself.

Four door frames whose sides meet in the middle to resemble a revolving door. At the base of each frame is a cog, and the whole structure is topped by a large ball. Plaques hang on an X-shaped beam within each frame. The poetry on these plagues is meant to be read in no particular order.

Architecture -- Detail -- Door

Object -- Toy -- Ball

Architecture -- Detail -- Door

Literature -- Simic

Outdoor Sculpture -- California -- Los Angeles

Administered by City of Los Angeles, Community Redevelopment Agency, Art Program, 354 South Spring Street, 7th floor, Los Angeles, California 90013

Located Citicorp Center, 7th & Figueroa, Poets' Walk, Los Angeles, California

One of seven sculptural collaborations between artists and poets that make up the "Poet's Walk" series throughout Citicorp Plaza. Series was funded and commissioned by the Prudential Realty Group at an approximate cost of $1.3 million. Lucoff/Lewis Advisors in the Visual Arts were consultants. Each sculpture has an identifying plaque nearby. IAS files include references to the Public Art Program and related information.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, California survey, 1995.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

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