If you’re visiting a New York State park or historic site in the Hudson Valley this year, you might have a poetic encounter!
New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) is presenting a new temporary public art project, Poetry in the Parks, to celebrate the Parks Centennial. Poems selected by the Poetry Society of America (PSA) and OPRHP are installed in three New York State parks and one historic site stretching from Westchester to Columbia County.
This inaugural installation of Poetry in the Parks includes works by Andrea Cohen at FDR State Park in Yorktown Heights; U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón and New York Poet Laureate Patricia Spears Jones at Walkway Over the Hudson State Park in Highland and Poughkeepsie; Robert Hass at Lake Taghkanic State Park in Ancram; and Ishion Hutchinson at Clermont State Historic Site in Germantown. Integrated with the architecture found in the parks, the selected poems are meant to be discovered by visitors to help them reflect on the beauty of their natural surroundings.
“Artists and writers have always been inspired by the beauty of the Hudson Valley,” says Taconic Regional Director Linda Cooper. “Poetry in the Parks is a new way to connect art and nature and encourage exploration and discovery.”
If you’ve ridden on a New York City subway or bus in the last 30 years, you’ve probably seen the work of the Poetry Society of America. The Poetry in Motion program works with transit systems nationwide to place poems on transit systems, reaching over nine million people daily. The program launched in New York City in 1992 and collaborates with the MTA Arts & Design. Poetry in Motion celebrated its 25th anniversary with an exhibit at the New York Transit Museum gallery at Grand Central Terminal. In an article about the exhibit in The New Yorker, the show’s curator, Amy Hausmann, said, “These poems speak to the diversity and cultural richness that make up our city. Poetry that is discovered in unexpected places like a crowded subway car or a city bus can provide a window into another way of thinking and feeling about the world we inhabit.”
When Hausmann joined OPRHP as Director of Olana State Historic Site in 2019, she was interested in exploring and encouraging the intersection of art and nature to create public engagement in the state’s parks and historic sites. She invited Poetry Society staff to visit in 2021 and they hatched a plan to develop a partnership.
“Presenting poetry in public spaces like New York State Parks provides opportunities for poets and visitors to share the full range of poetry’s powers,” Hausmann said. “Diversity and accessibility are at the heart of New York State Parks goals. Poetry provides access to a rich variety of voices and languages and represents diverse perspectives and communities. Art and nature make us feel better and, combined, help us to think differently.”
Introducing poetry into the everyday is a goal for The Poetry Society, which is always on the lookout for opportunities to share poems with the public. Starting in 2010, PSA began a collaboration with the New York Botanical Garden, offering poetry programs that complement their major exhibitions. In 2022, PSA organized Seeing Into Tomorrow, a large-scale public art installation featuring short haiku poems by Richard Wright. The project features Wright’s poems installed on blank walls and windows throughout downtown Brooklyn. In 2023, The Poetry Society launched Park Poems with New York City Parks, placing poems in public parks across New York’s five boroughs. The second edition of the program was installed in April.
The PSA, in collaboration with the U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón, the Library of Congress, and National Park Service, recently debuted You Are Here: Poetry in Parks. The National Parks Service says You Are Here is “a new initiative to place site-specific poetry installations in seven national parks across the country. These installations, which will transform picnic tables into works of public art, will each feature a historic American poem that connects in a meaningful way to the park.”
“Like parks, poems invite us to wander, explore, even get a little lost—and in the process, to discover new ways to articulate, to ourselves and to others, our thoughts, feelings, and connection to the world,” Poetry Society of America Executive Director Matt Brogan says. “The Poetry Society is committed to bringing poetry to the most inclusive and democratic public spaces, making poems part of daily life for millions of Americans, as they commute to work, walk to school, or visit their local park.”
And in the Taconic region of New York State Parks, the inaugural installation of Poetry in the Parks was a team effort that will remain on view for one year.
OPRHP graphic designer Pat Ryan worked with Hausmann to design the installations. Johnny Rivera and his team at Nela Visual produced and installed the vinyl poems. The Poetry Society of America funded the fabrication and installation of the poems.
Poetry in the Parks marks an exciting moment in the 100-year history of New York State Parks, offering visitors an opportunity to connect with contemporary poets, poetry, and the natural beauty found in the Hudson Valley. We invite all our visitors to explore, discover and embrace the intersection between art and nature. We’ll see you out there!
THE SITES and THE POETS
FDR State Park
Andrea Cohen is the author of numerous books of poetry, including most recently The Sorrow Apartments. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and several MacDowell Fellowships, among other honors.
Walkway Over the Hudson State Park
Ada Limón is the author of six books of poetry, including The Carrying, which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry. She is the 24th Poet Laureate of The United States and the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.
Patricia Spears Jones is a poet, playwright, anthologist, educator, and cultural activist. She is the winner of the 2017 Jackson Poetry Prize from Poets & Writers and is the 2023 New York State Poet Laureate. Her most recent book is The Beloved Community.
Clermont State Historic Site
Ishion Hutchinson is the author of several books of poems, most recently School of Instructions. He is the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors.
Lake Taghkanic State Park
Robert Hass is the author of numerous books of poetry, including Time and Materials, which received both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry. He served as the Poet Laureate of The United States from 1995 to 1997.
– Written by Amy Hausmann, Director of Olana State Historic Site
New York State Parks and Historic Sites Blog 