The Natural History Museum of Utah has unveiled a new poetry path along the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, a project designed to humanize scientific language through literature. The installation serves as the culminating effort of the Field Work: Aligning Poetry & Science program, a collaborative initiative involving the Museum, the Salt Lake City Public Library, and the New York City-based national poetry library, Poets House.
Poetry Meets the Trail
The Poetry Path, a key deliverable of the grant-funded Field Work project, features excerpts from various poems engraved on stones visible from the trail. Katharine Coles, serving as the Poet-in-Residence for the Natural History Museum of Utah, selected the specific poetic excerpts for the installation.
The collection of engraved poems includes works such as "Laughter" by Crisosto Apache, "Wind, Water, Stone" by Octavio Paz, and "A Debris Field of Apocalypticians-A Murder of Crows" by Dana Levin. Other featured poets include Simon J. Ortiz, who wrote "Culture and Universe," and C.L. Rawlins, author of "For the Listener." The installation also features "Guilty of Dust" by Frank Bidart and "Never to Dream of Spiders" by Audre Lorde.
Interdisciplinary STEM Learning
The Field Work: Aligning Poetry & Science program is a two-city art and science initiative aimed at fostering STEM learning through the medium of poetry. By integrating these disciplines, the project seeks to help audiences forge deeper and more meaningful relationships with the natural history they encounter during their visits and excursions.
This collaborative effort utilizes multiple language arts experiments to bridge the gap between scientific terminology and public engagement. The partnership between the Natural History Museum of Utah, the Salt Lake City Public Library, and the 70,000-volume national poetry library, Poets House, aims to engage broad audiences through these interactive and interdisciplinary programs.
The Role of Katharine Coles
The project highlights the work of Katharine Coles, a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Utah. Coles, who has served as Poet Laureate of the State of Utah, has been a central figure in both literary and scientific-literary collaborations.
In addition to her work as Poet-in-Residence for the Field Work program, Coles has co-directed the Utah Symposium in Science and Literature alongside mathematician and biologist Fred Alder. Her academic career at the University of Utah includes serving as a professor since 2007 and as a director of the Creative Writing Program.
A Distinguished Literary Career
Coles's career is marked by extensive academic and literary achievements. She earned her PhD from the University of Utah and has authored numerous books, including the 2025 collection Time and Chance, the 2023 collection Ghost Apples, and the essay collection The Stranger I Become: On Walking, Looking, and Writing. Her memoir, Look Both Ways, was also published by Turtle Point Press.
Her literary contributions extend beyond poetry and essays to novels such as Fire Season (2005) and The Measurable World (1995). She has also collaborated with visual artist Maureen O’Hara on the artists' book Swoon (2003) and various installations. Her writing has been translated into multiple languages, including Italian, German, Dutch, and Spanish.
National Recognition and Leadership
Coles has received significant recognition for her contributions to literature and science-based arts. Her accolades include a fellowship and a New Forms Project grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as a PEN New Writer’s Award. She has also been supported by grants from the Utah Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Arts Council, and the National Science Foundation's Antarctic Artists and Writers Program.
Her leadership in the literary community includes serving as the inaugural director of the Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute at the Poetry Foundation in Chicago. In that capacity, she edited the anthology Blueprints: Bringing Poetry into Communities in 2011, as well as the report Poetry & New Media: A Users’ Guide and Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Poetry.
