Poetry in Parks

The You Are Here: Poetry in Parks initiative resulted in the installation of poetry on picnic tables in seven national parks. As public works of art, the picnic tables each feature a historic American poem selected by the 24^th U.S. National Poet Laureate, Ada Limón. Limón selected the poems to encourage visitors to pay deeper attention to their surroundings. Limón traveled to each of the parks in 2024 and early 2025 to unveil the installations.

“I want to champion the ways reading and writing poetry can situate us in the natural world. Never has it been more urgent to feel a sense of reciprocity with our environment, and poetry’s alchemical mix of attention, silence, and rhythm gives us a reciprocal way of experiencing nature—of communing with the natural world through breath and presence.”
-U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón

Poetry in Parks Installations

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

The picnic table at Appalachian Highlands Science Learning Center features Lucille Clifton's poem "the earth is a living thing."

Everglades National Park

The picnic table outside Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center features June Jordan's poem "Ecology."

Mount Rainier National Park

This picnic table outside Jackson Visitor Center features A. R. Ammons' poem "Uppermost."

Saguaro National Park

This picnic table at Mica View Picnic Area Ofelia Zepeda's poem "Na:nko Ma:s Cewagĭ / Cloud Song."

Redwood National and State Parks

The picnic table at Redwood Creek Overlook features Francisco X. Alarcón's poem "Never Alone."

Cape Cod National Seashore

This picnic table at the trailhead of Beech Forest Trail features Mary Oliver's poem "Can You Imagine?"

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

The picnic table at the Ledges Trailhead features Jean Valentine's poem "The valley."

"You Are Here" Poet Laureate Project

Poetry in Parks was the first partnership between the National Park Service, Library of Congress, U.S. National Poet Laureate, and Poetry Society of America. The initiative is one half of Ada Limón’s signature project titled, “You Are Here.” The project also includes an anthology of original poems by 50 contemporary American poets. Learn more about Ada Limón’s “You Are Here” project.

Ada Limón is the 24th U.S. Poet Laureate. Her two-term appointment began July 2022 and concluded in April 2025. Limón addressed the honor on her appointment, “I am humbled by this opportunity to work in the service of poetry and to amplify poetry's ability to restore our humanity and our relationship to the world around us.”

Limón was born in Sonoma, California, in 1976 and is of Mexican ancestry. She is the author of six poetry collections, including “The Carrying,” which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry in 2018. Read more about Ada Limón from the Library of Congress.

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  You Are Here: Poetry in Parks Introduction

  The 24th U.S. Poet Laureate, Ada Limón, introduces her signature project You Are Here: Poetry in Parks.

  Duration:

  2 minutes, 10 seconds

A family reads a poem on a trail in Olympic National Park.

North Olympic Library System

Connecting to Nature through Art

Awe-inspiring artworks have and continue to inspire Americans to visit and experience their national parks. Similarly, art within national parks invites us to consider the meanings and values of nature through our experiences, resulting in a deepened connection to nature.

“Ada Limón’s signature project will help us connect more personally to America’s greatest parks as well as show how the poets of our time capture the natural world in their own lives.” -Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden

National parks offer an inclusive space for artists to create works that reflect their individual experience of the landscape. Poetry has a particular ability to traverse time and space and lead us deeper into an awareness of the rich and diverse lands that are our national parks.

Learn more about the historic and present-day role of arts in national parks.