The Writing’s on the Wall Poetry in the Parks Inspiration for Visitors

September 16, 2025

Janeen Martin, Communications, [email protected]

(DATE: 9/16/2025, Staatsburg, NY) - 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) and the Poetry Society of America are pleased to announce five new poetry installations as part of their ongoing public art partnership Poetry in the Parks. First launched in 2024, Poetry in the Parks transforms poems into works of public art, delighting visitors to New York State parks and historic sites stretching from Westchester to Columbia County .

The new poems, which feature the work of former US Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith and Pulitzer-prize winner John Ashbery, among others, have been installed at Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site in Yonkers, Olana State Historic Site in Hudson, Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park in Carmel, Mills-Norrie State Park Marina in Staatsburg, and Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park in Yorktown Heights. The poems were selected by the Poetry Society of America and New York State Parks staff to resonate with their natural and cultural settings and to showcase a diversity of poetic voices.

Poetry in the Parks now features a total of ten poetry installations in the Taconic Region, with previous poems still on view at Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park, Clermont State Historic Site, Lake Taghkanic State Park, and a second poem at FDR State Park.Special programs celebrating these installations at the sites will be launched to the public during National Poetry Month in April 2026 and available throughout the year.

Poetry Society of America: "We are excited to continue our partnership with NY State Parks, creating surprising encounters between poets and readers in some the most beautiful and historically significant locations in the state," Poetry Society of America Executive Director Matt Brogan says."Like parks, poems invite us to wander, explore, even get a little lost-and in the process, to discover new things about ourselves and the world around us."

OPRHP: "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."

2025 SITES AND POETS

Philipse Manor Hall State Historic Site: "Beatific," by Tracy K. Smith

Tracy K. Smith is the author of several poetry books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning collection Life on Mars. She was the 22nd Poet Laureate of the United States.

Olana State Historic Site: "Some Trees," by John Ashbery

John Ashbery is recognized as one of the greatest 20th-century American poets. He won nearly every major American award for poetry, including the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Yale Younger Poets Prize, the Bollingen Prize, the Ruth Lily Poetry Prize, the Griffin International Award, and a MacArthur "Genius" Grant.

Clarence Fahnestock Memorial State Park: "Red Language," by Heid E. Erlich

Heid E. Erlich is the author of numerous collections, including, most recently, Little Big Bully. She edited the anthology New Poets of Native Nations. She Ojibwe, enrolled at Turtle Mountain.

Mills-Norrie Park Marina: "River," by Cindy Juyoung Ok

Cindy Juyoung Ok is the author of Ward Toward, winner of the Yale Younger Poets Series, and a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize.

Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park : "The exchange," by Toi Derricotte

Toi Derricotte is the author of numerous collections, including "I": New and Selected Poems, which was a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award. She is the cofounder of Cave Canem, an organization devoted to the development and support of Black poetry in the United States.

PROJECT PARTNERS

The Poetry Society of America, founded in 1910, is the oldest poetry organization in the country. The Poetry Society has a long history of placing poems in public places, beginning with Poetry in Motion , a partnership with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority founded in 1992 to place poems in the New York City transit system. More recently, the Poetry Society has expanded its efforts to include other public spaces, most notably public parks. In addition to its partnership New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Poetry Society works with New York City Parks on Park Poems , and partnered with National Parks Service, the Library of Congress, and U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to produce a program called " You are Here: Poetry in Parks , " which placed poems in seven national parks across the country.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees more than 250 parks, historic sites, recreational trails, golf courses, boat launches and more, and welcomes over 88 million visitors annually. For more information on any of these recreation areas, visit parks.ny.gov , download the free NY State Parks Explorer app or call 518.474.0456. Connect with us o n Facebook , Instagram , X (formerly Twitter), the OPRHP Blog or via the OPRHP Newsroom .