Think of your poem as a portrait of a street. Use it to tell us about the street's name and it relates to the people who walk on the street today.

Choose a street in your area (note it's easiest to do research on the bigger, well-known streets). Take some time to look up the history of this street (we’ve compiled some resources to get you started on this process here). Who or what was the street named after? When was it named?Who was it named by? Who lived on this street historically, and who lives there now? Why have these changes happened?

Write a poem that follows the shape of the street. If you want to, make the poem branch off into intersections where the street intersections with other streets. Look up the origins of those intersecting streets and continue the process. You can make the poem branch off as many times as you want (or not at all!)

Maps contain all types of language—they're COVERED with names. This activity encourages participants to look closely (and critically) at the words on a map.

Materials and tools: Patrons might use digital maps such as Google Maps, Open Street Maps or online map archives such as the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection or the Library of Congress or Old Maps Online. There are also many localized online map archives maintained by city governments, local libraries or local centers. Participants might also bring in their own paper maps such as old navigational maps or hiking maps. Librarians might help participants find atlases or books or maps in their library's collection.

Collage (Option 1): Pick and choose words from the map to make a poem. When coming up with your poem, you might try to collect words that revolve around a common topic. Find patterns on the map—such as which words repeat, which words sound similar, which themes are common. Themes you might often see on American maps include patriotism and history. Try to notice what other things groups of words on the map have in common—for example gender or race or language. For this exercise, you do not need to keep the words in the same place as they are in the map. You can also do this exercise by actually cutting words out from a paper or digital map.

Erasure (Option 2): Create a poem by deleting words off the map. This could be done by using white-out or crossing out or cutting out words out on a paper map (you might make a photocopy or printout of the original map to work with, or use a simple digital editing software like paint). Think about what it does to the map to delete words off of it. What does it do to a place to have certain names removed? Try to have a reason for why you are erasing certain words—for example, removing problematic words, removing English language words, removing everything named after 1776, removing everything you don't recognize,

etc. You could also remove parts of words and just leave certain letters. For this exercise, you should keep the words in roughly the same places they were on the original map.

While walking, write down place names that interest you. It might be helpful to try to write down names that revolve around a theme, such as proper names, nature names, non-English language names, patriotic names, etc.

When you get home, look up the origin stories of a few of these place names. Take a moment and think about all the language you just saw in your area, and what it meant to you. Do these names make you feel included or excluded? Do you see yourself reflected in these names? How do these names contrast or compare to what you saw or felt or heard on  your walk?

Write a poem that incorporates each of the words you wrote down in the order that you saw them. Your poem could narrate the process of your walk or be completely unrelated to your walk. Either way, use the poem to reflect on what it feels like for you to live among these names.

Do some research on the street. What events have taken place there? Who has lived there and who lives there now? How has it changed over time?

Visit the street or look up pictures or draw on your memory of the street. When writing your poem, use lines to describe the street. What does it look like? Who do you see? What are they doing? What kind of buildings are on the street? What kind of trees and flowers? What does the street sound like? Smell like? Feel like? How can you describe in ways that are more true and honest to you than its current name?