The Language of Conservation
For Adults

The Language of Conservation is an initiative of Poets House in partnership with the The Milwaukee County Zoo, the Zoological Society of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Public Library, made possible by a National Leadership grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Poetry has the emotive power to touch us, to inspire us, to make us reflect more deeply into our lives. Through this grant all the partners are seeking to educate our community about the value of wildlife, the environment and the conservation ethic.

Working with our poet-in-residence, Pattiann Rogers, some 54 poetry installations have been created at the Milwaukee County Zoo. Books have been purchased and displays set up throughout the Milwaukee Public Library. Ongoing programs are planned to re-enforce these perspectives.

Poetry Installation | Books to Explore
Local Nature and Conservation Groups

Poetry Installation at the Milwaukee County Zoo

The Milwaukee County Zoo, the Zoological Society of Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Public Library have partnered together in a national poetry grant awarded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

The following poets and their work were chosen by our Poet in Residence, Pattiann Rogers, to help increase our connections with animals and the environment.

We hope these poems will inspire you and enrich your visit here at the Zoo.

Photos taken by photographer Mark Hines.

Click here to view a map of all 54 installations located throughout the Milwaukee County Zoo.

Find the full poems from the poetry installations at the Milwaukee County Zoo in these sources at the Milwaukee Public Library:

1. William Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”	29. Jim Harrison, “A Geo-Bestiary”
2. Wendell Berry, “The Peace of Wild Things”	30. Gerard Manley Hopkins, “Inversnaid”
3. Genesis, Chap. 6 (The Holy Bible), King James Translation	31. Rabindranath Tagore, “Light, My Light, the World-filling Light”
4. Seasonal Poems – Changing Each Season Various authors	32. Mary Fullerton, “Emus”
5. Gray Jacobik, “Flamingos”	33. Barron Field, “Kangaroo”
6. Li-Young Lee, “Praise Them”	34. Maria Melendez, “Aullido”
7. Wendell Berry, “Prayers and Sayings of the Mad Farmer”	35. Pamela Uschuk, “Wolf Lecture”
8. Michael Glaser, “The Presence of Trees”	36. Karen Shragg, “Think Like a Tree”
9. Eamon Grennan, “What Matter”	37. Kathleen Dean Moore, “Howling with Strangers”
10. Anonymous, Navajo Indian “In Beauty May I Walk”	38. Walt Whitman, “Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun”
11. ifedayo oshin, “Africa of Nigeria” Unpublished	39. Robin Chapman, “Dancers”
12. Pattiann Rogers, “Animals and People: ‘The Human Heart in Conflict with Itself’”	40. John Haines, “To Turn Back”
13. May Swenson, “Motherhood”	41. John Haines, “And When the Green Man Comes”
14. William Wordsworth, “She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways”	42. Jorge Luis Borges, “The Other Tiger”
15. Lucille Clifton, “Breaklight”	43. Marilyn Taylor, “In Tanzania”
16. Alison Apotheker, “Why I Said Jellyfish”	44. Les Murray, “Dreambabwe”
17. Pablo Neruda, “Some Beasts”	45. Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve, “I Watched an Eagle Soar”
18. Robin Chapman, “Dancers”	46. Rabindranath Tagore, “The Butterfly Counts…”
19. David Wagoner, “Lost”	47. Emily Dickinson, “The Bee”
20. Theodore Roethke, “The Waking”	48. Joy Harjo, “Remember”
21. Theodore Roethke, “The Bat”	49. Marge Piercy, “To Be of Use”
22. Donna J. Long, “First Winter Grace”	50. Marge Piercy, “Digging In”
23. Knud Rasmussen, “Old Song of the Musk Ox People”	51. Rudyard Kipling, “The Butterfly That Stamped”
24. Reg Saner, “This Grizzly”	52. Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Cow”
25. Linda Hogan, “Elk Song”	53. Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself”
26. John Montague, “The Trout”	54. Tom Hansen, “Jump-Rope Rhyme”
27. Albert Goldbarth, “Or of Anything”
28. Walt Whitman, “Give Me the Splendid Silent Sun”

After a lifetime of trips to the Milwaukee County Zoo (first at Washington Park and now on Blue Mound Road), I doubted anything could ever refresh the experience for me. The onslaught of careening double-wide strollers, the 'signature fragrance' of the Small Mammals Building, overhearing parents trying to explain just what those two monkeys are doing, the possibility of a guano shower in the Aviary, the relentless white noise of a thousand excited children...ah, memories.

So it was a revelation to visit the Zoo with a friend to check out the poetry installed throughout the grounds by The Language of Conservation program funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the Milwaukee County Zoo and the Milwaukee Public Library with help from Poets House. With map and list of poem titles in hand, we embarked on a quest to seek out and savor selections from a menagerie of poets. There are poems etched on exhibit glass, hanging in trees, carved into stone or wood, on curving metal scrolls, or lettered on mobiles and banners. Like trying to spot a well camouflaged animal, the poetry will suddenly reveal itself to the attentive hunter. Standing silently amid the swirling throng and having a poem perfectly connect to creature or place is a revelation.

Alison Apotheker's "Why I Said Jellyfish", Michael Glaser's "The Presence of Trees" and Jorge Luis Borges' "The Other Tiger" were three favorites. To read the timeless words of May Swenson's Motherhood, then watch the baby orangutan Mahal cuddled in his adoptive mother's lap is delightful, even for someone as cynical as I. I know we missed finding some of the poems during our three hour visit, so we will definitely be planning another trip soon - by then I hope someone develops a GPS (Global Poetry Sensor)!

Submitted by Christine @ MPL Central, August 3, 2010 (Now @ MPL Blog entry)

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