House Poem and his residency are funded by City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, an organization that provides refuge to writers in danger in their own countries. We lingered for a few minutes, following the poems' translations in a brochure (available at the Mattress Factory), marveling at his reflections on seasons and aging and determination.

NIGHT AND DAY

One of Pittsburgh's most vivid neighborhoods is the Strip District, so called because it follows a corridor along the Allegheny River and Penn Avenue. By day this strip of warehouses and freight docks hums with wholesalers, fish and produce merchants, craft and specialty shops, ethnic food stores and sidewalk vendors. The 10-block marketplace -- a true urban adventure -- fills the senses with the sounds of sellers jabbering and arguing over prices, and mingling smells of fish, flowers and baked goods. For us, it proved a great place for buying knockoff handbags and, of course, Steelers sweatshirts.

At night, the Strip District becomes a restaurant and nightclub district -- Pittsburgh's only 24-hour neighborhood -- when haggling locals are replaced by 20- somethings out for a night on the town.

A different kind of fun is found in the South Side neighborhood, 15 blocks of Victorian storefronts and homes housing cafés, shops, bars and galleries. We browsed earrings from the Far East and boots from the Wild West, and when we wanted to rest a bit, we had six coffee shops to choose from.

We capped our visit with a trip up (and down) the 800-foot Duquesne Incline -- the height a bit scary, but oh, that view!

One of the few remaining inclines in the country, the Duquesne is a cable railway, slooooowly taking riders up the mountain in enclosed wooden cars. Go at dusk, when the sunset-painted sky showcases the entire city.

Taking in the hand-carved cherry panels, vintage hardware and amber glass transoms of the railway car, it's easy to forget the present for a moment, and, looking down, see how that grassy triangle, once the original ''gateway to the West,'' became known as ``Renaissance City.''

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