Editor’s note: Como Park resident Marsha Foss wrote and submitted the following poem following the mid-August demolition of the former St. Andrew’s Catholic Church that is paving the way for the expansion of the Twin Cities German Immersion School.

At the end of my street the tower still stands

By Marsha Foss

piece by piece the body of the building falls

crumbling, like a body in hospice fails

after all prayers for survival, that all will be well

after all valiant efforts have failed

begins violent destruction

the tower still stands

removal of the cross

excruciating,

not without cries

the tower still stands

disfigurement and scarring

monotonous sounds of collapse

grinding away dusty debris

of brick and tile, glass and plaster,

pipes and organ gone

under moonlit sky the tower still stands

pain grows each day, day by day

neighbors and friends

bid farewell

during this long vigil

not faring well

the tower still stands

soon with a final swing of the crane

and a crashing rattle she will be gone

negative space where once beauty stood

the soul of a neighborhood diminished

yet in my mind

she will stand at the end of my street

in my heart At the ruin of St. Andrew’s Catholic Church

1 Response

  1. Judy

    It’s what happens when someone, feeling entitled, comes in to another’s space spewing their grandiosity in an environment they feel wouldn’t and couldn’t understand.

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