“Look how many of us there are!” exclaimed Sharon Olds.
By “us,” the esteemed poet meant poetry lovers. It was June 12, and 600 poetry fans had just strolled together across the Brooklyn Bridge in the annual Poetry Walk sponsored by Poets House.
Ms. Olds stood before them-the Brooklyn Bridge, the East River and the Manhattan skyline behind her rimmed in gold by the setting sun-and recited “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” by Walt Whitman.
Ah, what can ever be more stately and admirable to me than mast-hemm’d Manhattan?
River and sunset and scallop-edg’d waves of flood-tide?
The sea-gulls oscillating their bodies, the hay-boat in the twilight, and the belated lighter? *
Accompanied by fellow poets Billy Collins, Gregory Pardlo, Claudia Rankine and Monica Youn, and poetry lover Bill Murray, Ms. Olds then led the parade to a fundraiser dinner a few blocks away on the DUMBO waterfront.
This year the Poetry Walk kicked off a year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of Poets House, a 70,000-volume poetry library in Battery Park City. Bill Murray and Frank Platt received the Elizabeth Kray Award for their help in building Poets House.
* The beginning of the eighth section of Crossing Brooklyn Ferry.