YOU ARE HERE

Ada Limón’s signature project as the nation’s 24th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry

Poetry in the Natural World

“With poems written for vast and inspiring vistas to poems acknowledging the green spaces that flourish even in the most urban of settings, this anthology hopes to reimagine what ‘nature poetry’ is during this urgent moment on our planet.” — Ada Limón

You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World is a singular collection of poems reflecting on our relationship to the natural world—to be published by Milkweed in association with the Library of Congress in April of 2024. It will feature fifty previously unpublished poems from some of the nation’s most accomplished poets: Poet Laureate Joy Harjo; Pulitzer Prize winners Jericho Brown, Diane Seuss, and Carl Phillips; National Book Award finalist Carolyn Forché; PEN/Voelcker Award winners Victoria Chang and Rigoberto González; New York Times bestseller Aimee Nezhukumatathil; Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Prize winner Paul Tran; Whiting Award winner Paul Guest; and many more.

REVIEWS

"Poetry in a list of science books? Why not? Limón, the 24th Poet Laureate of the U.S., has edited an anthology of all-new nature poems from writers like Joy Harjo, Erika Meitner, and Jericho Brown, among others. Whatever you think “nature poetry” is, you might be surprised by this collection. Each poet writes about their local landscape in new and sometimes unexpected ways, showcasing a diversity of methods with which to interact with the natural world. It’s a slim but powerful volume of poetry that demands you slow down, stop, and immerse yourself in the natural world, if even just for a few minutes." — Book Riot - 8 Science Books to Look For in Early 2024

"Lush with lyricism and striking imagery, these poems by Jericho Brown, Diane Seuss, and others contemplate seascapes, backyards, national borders, and built environments where life sings beneath the surface." — Poets & Writers

"Nature is the unifying theme of this poetry anthology edited by current U.S. poet laureate Ada Limón, who was born and raised in Sonoma County. Each featured poet, including Joy Harjo, Paul Tran, Rigoberto González and more, is invited to tangle with their local landscape to produce previously unpublished work." — San Francisco Chronicle - Bay Area books: 22 new works to energize your spring reading

Poetry in Parks

This initiative with the National Park Service and the Poetry Society of America, will feature 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 and will “encourage visitors to pay deeper attention to their surroundings,” according to Limón.

Participating national parks are:

  • Cape Cod National Seashore (Massachusetts)

  • Cuyahoga Valley National Park (Ohio)

  • Great Smoky Mountains National Park (North Carolina and Tennessee)

  • Everglades National Park (Florida)

  • Mount Rainer National Park (Washington)

  • Redwood National and State Parks (California)

  • Saguaro National Park (Arizona)

Limón will travel to each of the participating parks in the summer and fall of 2024 to unveil and celebrate the new installations and support community outreach.

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Photo credits (top page banner, left to right) — Saguaro National Park, Credit: NPS / Todd M. Edgar; Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Credit: NPS / Eduard Toerek; Mount Rainer National Park, Credit: NPS / John S. Chao
(second page banner, top to bottom) — Redwood National and State Parks, Credit: NPS / John S. Chao; Cape Cod National Seashore, Credit: NPS / Brittni Connell; Everglades National Park, Credit: NPS / Federico Acevedo; Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Credit: NPS / Victoria Stauffenberg.