D&R Greenway adds 50th poem to trail

PRINCETON, N.J. — Akin to nature, the poems on the trail at

D&R Greenway Land Trust evoke love for the earth, and recently they grew to 50 poems.

The trail founders and sustainers, Scott and Hella McVay selected a new poem, “The Spineless”by Dodge Poet and three-time winner of New Jersey Council on the Arts Fellowship, Lois Marie Harrod to add to the list on their poetry trail.

“I am honored and delighted to be part of the Scott and Hella McVay Poetry Trail, a sanctuary for many people,” says Harrod from her Hopewell home.

She continues, “As a friend told me recently, ‘I go there when I need peace.’ Scott and Hella have spent a lifetime supporting art and science, teachers and poets. I am indebted to them, and to the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, and the Dodge Poetry Festival.”

Established in 2010, the Scott and Hella McVay Poetry Trail loops a meandering mile through the native plant meadow in Greenway Meadows Park.

They made the trail comfortable and attractive.

Furniture Designer and Fine Craftsman David Robinson created eight rustic benches for the trail, while George Zienowicz created the 50 signs.

Since then, they have dedicated several poems from poets who have strong responses to the natural world.

For example, in 2016, they dedicated a poem by the late Pulitzer-winner C.K. Williams.  (1936-2015)

Former Princeton Mayor Phyllis Marchand, chair of D&R Greenway’s Board of Trustees, opened the dedication ceremony beneath a 300-year-old Oak tree on a beautiful, sunny day.

“If you ever feel a need for healing, get out and walk on this trail,” said Marchand.

“You will feel just great, enjoying the natural connection of poetry and nature.”

With the addition of Harrod, the 50 poets are now balanced among 25 men and 25 women, note the McVays.

“I love being outside,” says Harrod. “Especially walking and hiking – Baldpate Mountain, the Sourlands St. Michaels Farm Preserve. I often write about something I have seen or experienced during these walks – though not immediately,” she adds.

Harrod says she knows that some people and even some poets are averse to nature. She appreciates that D&R Greenway, and other local environmental organizations, provide antidotes to such fears.

The author of 16 poetry collections, Harrod is the winner of the 2012 Tennessee Chapbook Contest, the 2010 Hazel Lipa Chapbook Prize, and a five-time recipient of fellowships to the Virginia Center for Creative Arts.

She has spent her life writing and teaching, most recently at the College of New Jersey and at Princeton Senior Resource Center’s Evergreen Forum.

Widely published in literary journals and online e-zines from American Poetry Review to Zone 3, her work can be read at www.loismarieharrod.org.

The poetry trail founders think Harrod’s poem winks at our humanity and deserves to join the ranks of works by Emily Dickenson, Robert Frost, Rumi/Coleman Barks, Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, Paul Muldoon, Jane Hirshfield, Joseph Bruchac, and six U.S. Poet Laureates:  Rita Dove, Robert Haas, Stanley Kunitz, Howard Nemerov, W.S. Merwin, and Richard Wilbur, among others.

Harrod will lead an En Plein Air poetry workshop at D&R Greenway’s St. Michael’s Farm Preserve in Hopewell tomorrow, said Linda Mead, president and CEO of D&R Greenway. rsvp@drgreenway.org

— Follow Michelle Dryden on Twitter @Michelle_Dryden