Along a one-block stretch of Collingwood Boulevard are 10 poems beneath pedestrians’ feet.

The poems — some long, some only a few lines — are stamped into the sidewalk between Delaware and Ashland avenues. They are a breezy read and a little unexpected.

“We want people to have a moment to just kind of be walking and stumble upon these poems and hopefully have an unexpected, thoughtful interaction with the city in their day-to-day commute,” said Ryan Bunch, performing and literary arts coordinator at the Arts Commission.

Now through Monday, the Arts Commission is accepting new submissions to be stamped into sidewalk and placed at a yet-to-be-decided location somewhere in Toledo. This is the commission’s third round of sidewalk poetry. The first time around, in 2012, five poems were selected, cast into concrete, and set near the National Great Lakes Museum in East Toledo. Last year was the Collingwood project.

“A step on a sidewalk is more than a step. It’s a quest to catch chimes from balconies and laughter from unlatched windows,” reads one sidewalk, “Foot Pursuit” by Gina Sares, in the Old West End. “To steal glances at backyard gardens. To snatch the breeze that sweeps the rooftops and feed it to the trees.”

Soon, the commission expects to have an online map of the readable sidewalks.

“It’s a fun thing to do — to explore and grab a cup of coffee at Black Kite and see the goats and take a stroll on Collingwood and get to the experience of what that little stretch of street feels like,” Bunch said.

Although there is no theme for this round of submissions, suggested ideas include “the idea of neighborhood, pedestrian experiences, walking, neighborhood architecture,” and Toledo in general — things that could apply to any place in the city.

“We want these to be really fun and kind of accessible,” Bunch said.

The idea for sidewalk poetry started in 2011 after the Arts Commission received a grant from the Toledo Community Foundation to expand the commission’s performing and literary arts reach.

Bunch saw a similar sidewalk poetry project in St. Paul and proposed Toledo do something similar.

The Arts Commission works with the city of Toledo to identify construction projects where large sections of sidewalk will be replaced.

The contest is open to writers and nonwriters of any age. Poems must be limited to a maximum of eight lines with 40 characters per line. Submissions should be sent to nmat timoe@theartscommission .org. For more information, go to theartscommission.org.

Contact Taylor Dungjen at tdungjen@theblade.com, or 419-724-6054, or on Twitter @taylordungjen.

First Published March 20, 2015, 4:00 a.m.