What would you write in wet cement?

photo by marissandrew

What would you write in wet cement? Guerrilla artist Uncustomary asks this question. (She answers with “you are beautiful” in her cement)

A fun phrase to write in wet cement would be, “Carve your dreams on the moon.” Concrete sidewalks are like the surface of the moon. Walking along on the sidewalk is like walking along on the moon. Maybe sometimes we are actually on the moon! If you are going to carve something into the moon, it might as well be your dreams. That moon high up the sky, we often associate the moon with dreams. Last night during the Supermoon eclipse, the moon looked more real and physical than ever before. You really got the sensation of it being a real rock up in the sky. Since the sidewalk reminds of the moon, I would want to carve something up on the moon.

If you had complete legal rights to write in wet cement, without any penalty, what would you write?

When writing something in wet cement, you have to first consider your medium. What is cement? What does a sidewalk remind you of? Then base your answer on what you think of sidewalks.

The answer could be as simple as “sidewalks remind me of walking.” Then perhaps you can give someone a wish for their walk. Write into the sidewalk, “best wishes for a thoughtful walk.” Or maybe sidewalks remind you of hopscotch. Perhaps you would then carve a hopscotch grid into the wet cement. A permanent playground for anyone walking by!

Sidewalks remind me of when I was four years old and I fell flat on my face onto the sidewalk, losing my entire front tooth. So I would write on the sidewalk, “Lost tooth as 4-year-old in 1979”