Nature has inspired poets, thinkers and artists for thousands of years. Visitors to our parks are often inspired by the beautiful vistas, delicate prairie flowers and vivid colors of birds. Years ago a poetry trail was installed off the beaten track at Indian Lake. In recent months, two women approached Dane County Parks separately, with ideas for volunteer poetry projects. We love the idea of interpreting the parks through poetry, so we have been working with these volunteers on two distinct but complementary park poetry projects.

The Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission (DCCAC) recently awarded a grant to the "Poetry for the Parks Project," directed by Madison poet Judith Strasser. The funds will enable Judith to visit all the parks in the Dane County Park system, and write a collection of poems about the parks. She will focus on the relationship between human and natural history, particularly at Donald, Schumacher Farm, Lake Farm and Old Halfway Prairie Schoolhouse Parks.

The DCCAC funds will also be used to print a brochure including some of Judith's Dane County Parks poems. Graphic designer Nancy Zucker and Park Printing of Verona will contribute to this part of the project. The brochure will be available at the parks next summer. In the spring and early summer of 2000, Judith will also read her poems in several locations, including Canterbury booksellers and County parks, to be announced in the spring. "ACTION" will also feature her poems.

Readers may recognize Judith as one of the interviewers on the popular WERN program, "To the Best of Our Knowledge." She would like to include in the readings poems that other people have written about parks, especially Dane County Parks. Please send copies of your

work to her at PO Box 1123, Madison WI 53701.

Another volunteer, Lisa Kane, has initiated two poetry trails: at Indian Lake, around the lake trail, and at Prairie Moraine. She has collected numerous short poems, haiku's, sayings, mini-essays and "squibs" with seasonal and topical themes. These writings are inserted in frames which were designed by Lisa and Bill Muehl, a frequent volunteer who is currently employed by the Parks Department. The materials for the frames and sign posts were purchased with a donation from the Springfield Community Club, which has a special affection for Indian Lake Park.

There are five poems at each park which Lisa will change in the spring, summer and fall (the poems will go on hiatus during the winter). The trails, featured recently on Channel 3 News by reporter Joel DeSpain, are currently up and available for your enjoyment. Lisa's enthusiasm for and devotion to this project are evident in the quality of the selections and their presentation. We would love to get your reactions! 

Judith Strasser contributed to this article.

If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man. - Mark Twain, from Pudd'nhead Wilson's Calendar.

If all the Beasts were gone, men would die from a great loneliness of spirit. - Chief Seattle