Poetry News

Take a Stroll Down Bucknell’s Poetry Path!

By Harriet Staff

Here’s a nice little write-up in the Standard Journal on the Bucknell University Poetry Path, which features the work of contemporary poets. Let’s all go!

From the article:

If you take your smartphone with a QR decoder along Bucknell University’s Poetry Path you’ll be able to hear contemporary poets read their work. Each of the 10 markers along the path through the campus and downtown Lewisburg is designed to let your phone link with a recording of the verse, or you can enjoy a printed version of a poem simply by reading it from the marker.

The Poetry Path was idea of Shara McCallum, director of the Stadler Center for Poetry, who said it connects the university and downtown, but that is only part of its aim.

“The goal is to make poetry a part of people’s everyday lives,” McCallum said. “I imagine that people will…be curious enough about it to use a smartphone, or read it…and learn more about poetry as a vehicle for human expression and connection.”

McCallum had already been involved with other public art projects and came up with the idea several years ago.

The verse on each Poetry Path marker is relevant to the spot where it is located. The poem at site 2, “For Paul Robeson,” by Terrance Hayes, is a tribute to Robeson, a legendary stage performe who was blacklisted for his political beliefs.The marker is near the Underground Railroad location off University Avenue in Lewisburg. Likewise, site 3 is near the borough’s Civil War memorial and features a poem titled, “Heroic,” by Eavan Boland. The site at the Kidsburg play area is a poem for young people titled, “How I Quit Sucking My Thumb,” by Bruce Lansky.

However, path participants won’t read or link to the familiar work of the late Robert Frost, Rudyard Kipling or Wallace Stevens. McCallum stressed that both the path and the Stadler Center are geared toward contemporary, living poets.

Full article here.

Posted in Poetry News on Monday, August 20th, 2012 by Harriet Staff.