Poetry in the zoo

Do you like bears? Do you like poetry? Do you like bears reciting poetry? Well, we can't help you with that last one, but if you like the first two, then visit Chicago's Brookfield Zoo and traverse the Great Bear Wilderness. Brookfield, along with five other zoos across the country, has partnered with Poets House to create “The Language of Conservation, a project that raises awareness about the environment through poetry. 38 poems are featured throughout the Great Bear Wilderness exhibit—some carved in wood, others sandblasted in rockwork or painted on sidewalks—that add a narrative arch to the history of hairy hibernating creatures, aka bears.

A verse or two from the exhibit:

What is life? It is the flash of a firefly in the night. It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.

Crowfoot (Blackfoot, 1821-1890)

The earth I tread on is not a dead inert mass. It is a body – has a spirit – is organic – and fluid to the influence of its spirit – and to whatever particle of that spirit is in me.

Henry David Thoreau

And a photo or two:

Find out more about the exhibit here.