U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón visited Cuyahoga Valley National Park in July as part of “You Are Here: Poetry in Parks” project. The initiative is a partnership between the National Park Service, Library of Congress, and the Poetry Society of America that features site-specific poetry installations in the parks. In each park, a picnic table is transformed into a work of public art to be unveiled. Each table is inscribed with a historic American poem that relates to the park in a meaningful way. While at CVNP, Limón unveiled a picnic table inscribed with Jean Valentine’s poem, “The Valley.” Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress

By RITA KUEBER
“How many of you are attending your first poetry reading?” When the question was put to the crowd of nearly 500, basking in the late-afternoon July sunshine, several dozen hands were raised tentatively. “Well, my goal is for you to attend another,” the speaker said with a gentle smile.
The circumstances for this gathering, both intimate and well-attended, could not have been more unique. The speaker asking questions was Ada Limón, the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States on her first trip to the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (CVNP) in Peninsula, Ohio. CVNP was one of seven national parks to be chosen for Limón’s signature project called “You are Here: Poetry in Parks.” Big picture, the initiative is a partnership between the National Park Service, Library of Congress, and the Poetry Society of America and features site-specific poetry installations in the parks. Within each park, a handicapped-accessible picnic table is transformed into a work of public art and inscribed not only with a poem but a writing prompt and a QR code to allow sharing thoughts, lines and photos on social media.
“We have a long history of working with arts groups here in the park,” said public information officer Pam Barnes. “We’ve had a deep connection to music through the Brandywine folk festival and we’ve hosted groups of visual artists for years, as well as our standing ties to literary groups in Cleveland, Akron and Youngstown.”
She explains Northeast Ohio was chosen in part because of these arts connections, but also because the goal was to have public participation – intentionally holding these events in parks that have a large population surrounding them, not remote places like Yellowstone. “We are the fourth of seven parks in the project, and so far, we’ve had the largest audience,” Barnes stated. “
Barnes also mentions how the Cuyahoga River’s remarkable recovery over the past years was inspirational to Ms. Limón. The California native is known for her works that examine the connection between humans and the natural world. “I believe the way we respond to this crucial moment on our planet could define humanity forever,” Limón said in a press release. “In conceiving my signature project, I wanted something that could both praise our sacred and natural wonders and also speak the complex truths of this urgent time.”
On a simple raised platform under a white oak, Limón asked about poetry reading attendance, then said she would offer three poems. “You can count up or count down, depending on your mood,” she joked. The large, multi-generation crowd listened attentively to a piece from “Bright Dead Things,” the title of her fourth published poetry collection, which was a finalist for the National Book Award. She also read “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” which has been engraved on NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, set to launch in October 2024 with a mission to orbit Jupiter’s moon Europa by 2030. The casual, welcoming presentation included a conversation with David Hassler, executive director of the Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University. Afterwards, a long line formed to have Ms. Limón autograph a book of her poetry.
The picnic table at CVNP is installed at The Ledges section of the park and has the poem “The Valley” by Jean Valentine inscribed. The poem, in part reads “The valley/edge by edge/bare field by field/I walked through it through you…”TheLedges area does have an enormous field as well as a spectacular view of the Cuyahoga Valley. The prompt on the table reads “What would you write in response to the landscape around you?”
“Nature is not a place to visit,” Limón said during her presentation. “Nature is who we are.”
https://www.nps.gov/cuva/the-ledges.htm
https://www.adalimon.net/