A sea of ode lovers embarked upon a literary pilgrimage to indulge their passion for balladry during a twilight poetry walk across the Brooklyn Bridge which, according to aficionados, “could just make you fall in love with New York all over again.”
The famed viaduct, exalted by Walt Whitman as “the best, most effective medicine my soul has yet partaken” and a source of inspiration for generations of poets, drew a distinguished roster of writers and aficionados to the fourteenth annual trek to raise money for Poets House, a prominent national poetry library and literary center.
Word giants, such as Hettie Jones, Galway Kinnell and Thomas Lux, shared the spotlight with Natasha Trethewey, Kevin Young and actor Bill Murray, pausing for readings beneath Roebling’s famous arches en route from City Hall to Brooklyn’s historic Fulton Ferry Landing for a festive dinner at Bubby’s Brooklyn, accompanied by a reading of Murray’s favorite verses.
Poetry House will move to an eco-friendly building in Battery Park this summer, featuring an indoor-outdoor programming hall, a state-of-the-art exhibition space, a whimsical chldren’s room and a majestic reading room with sweeping views of the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty, helping make New York City “one of the greatest poetry destinations on the globe.”
For more information, call 212-431-7920.
