Situated in Place Gérald-Godin, in the heart of Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough, facing the Maison de la culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal, the artwork is integrated into the north wall of the building at 4433-4435-4437 Rue Rivard. It is a large-format reproduction of Gérald Godin’s poem “Tango de Montréal,” written in 1983 and published in the collection Sarzène that year.

This poem is representative of Godin’s literary output, his attachment to Montréal, and his human preoccupations. Each of the 327 typographic characters of the poem was sculpted in clay, which was baked at a high temperature to form a high-quality brick. The 327 bricks were incorporated into the building’s brick wall, transforming the wall into a page. The characters are related to those that the Romans sculpted in marble, and the black mortar joints highlight the contrast so that the poem can be read from a distance. The artists felt that Godin’s voice as a poet, more discreet and less well known than his political activity, are also a part of history, and they chose to give him a voice in a place that is in use for daily activity – leaving for work in the morning, coming home in the evening, people who leave, who pass by, and who arrive for the first time.

Gérald Godin (1938–94) was a member of the National Assembly of Québec for the Mercier riding from 1976 to 1994 and minister of cultural communities and immigration from 1981 to 1985. Also an author, he received the Grand Prix du livre de Montréal in 1987 for his collection of poetry and plays titled Ils ne demandaient qu'à brûler.