Updated: Apr 11
By Barbara A. Preston for The Montgomery News | (Updated April 11, 2026) Posted April 3 2026
Eight poems by mostly local writers, some world-famous, appear atop wood posts throughout Millstone Park, just behind the Rocky Hill Municipal Building on Montgomery Avenue throughout the month of April. The poems offer profound ways to find solace during difficult times.
Organized by Rocky Hill resident Susan Bristol, this year's pop-up poetry path celebrates peace and recognizes the 30th anniversary of National Poetry Month.
The poems evoke images of "mists rolling in like memory erased," "flower-scented spring breezes," and "the quiet strength of the white pine."
Bristol and friends have been pulling together the annual poetry path since 2020 — the first year of the pandemic. It's modeled after the D&R Greenway Poetry Project in Princeton, which was established in 2010. Known as the Scott and Hella McVay Poetry Trail, it loops a meandering mile through a native plant meadow on D&R Greenway’s Conservation Campus on Rosedale Road. About 50 poems feature the work of poets from 14 countries and cultures. The McVays were long-time Princeton residents who now live in Skillman. Their poetry trail speaks to the symbiotic relationship between art and nature.
"When your alarm is not beating and you miss your meeting, Take a walk in the woods ..." — Dianna Dineen
For those who cannot make the trip to Rocky Hill, the poems appear in the gallery below.
This year, the poetry trail is dedicated to the Mary Jacobs Memorial Library with warm wishes for the future of the new foundation that will be bringing the library back to Rocky Hill, Bristol says.
Every year the poetry project has a theme. "This year's theme, peace, was chosen before our country went to war in Iran," she said. "And, it was also chosen before we knew the results of the litigation regarding the library. It just seems even more appropriate now."
Paul Muldoon’s poem “The Wood” provides relief from long work days and stressful news stories, offering some peace and quiet. It captures the universal desire for solace, reminding readers to appreciate the comfort, people, and sensory experiences of home.
Bristol says, "everyone feels the need to experience peace right now, regardless of any outcomes."
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Bristol is especially proud that the poetry path includes new poetry by Joyce Carol Oates. "The famous author has a friend in Rocky Hill, and she has been writing new work for us for the past few years," she said. "Her's, as always, is striking. We are grateful for that."
Poems include:
"The Peace of Wild Things" by environmentalist Wendell Berry
"A Haiku" by Rocky Hill resident, author, journalist, and musician Richard D. Smith
"A Peace of Woods" by Dianna Dineen, who lives in Rocky Hill and teaches middle schoolers in Trenton
"After We Died" by Joyce Carol Oates
"Peace," by Kathryn Anne Washkevich
"Armed Peace (Vopnadur fridur)" by Jón úr Vör, a municipal library director
"The Wood" by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Paul Muldoon
