John Herr, left, and Frank Byrne, from the Musser Park Civic Association, look over the newly installed "poetry post," near the playground at Shippen and Marion streets.
The poem "Horse Sense" is seen on the poetry post at Musser Park. The poems in the post will be changed from time to time.
"It's not what we have, but what we enjoy that constitutes our abundance," says a newly posted quotation at Musser Park.
The Musser Park Civic Association is hoping to foster an enjoyment of reading and words with the new "poetry post," installed Wednesday in the northeastern Lancaster city park.
And it will do so with an abundance of poems and quotations.
The 4-inch-by-4-inch post is topped with a plaque. A poem, "Horse Sense," is posted on one side. Three quotations are on the opposite side.
"Hopefully, it will prompt kids to read," said John Herr, a Musser Park board member.
The post was placed in the park's fenced playground area, near the hopscotch and four-square courts, at Shippen and Marion streets.
The postings — some whimsical, some thoughtful — will be replaced twice a month, said Herr.
He will be making the selections, along with other park board members. But he will gladly accept suggestions, Herr said.
Herr said he has several books from which to draw, and the Internet is a trove of poetry and quotations.
One helpful resource will be the in-house publication of the John Deere farm implement company. The back page of that publication, one of the oldest in the nation, is devoted to humor, fun and philosophy, said Herr.
The park's poetry post follows the Poetry Path Project of Franklin & Marshall College Writer's House. That project has installed artwork complimented with poetry at several sites around the city.
bharris@lnpnews.com
