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
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.