SULLIVAN COUNTY, NY — Catskilled Poetry for Healing has released the locations for plaques that mark how poetry heals and how the voices of the unheard can be magnified.

The unveiling of the next few plaques is scheduled for Thursday, April 25 at 10 a.m. at the Roscoe Free Library in Roscoe and on Friday, April 26 at 5 p.m. at the Sunshine Hall Library in Eldred. 

The project aims to address the county’s mental health and substance use crisis through writing poetry as a therapeutic tool. 

Catskilled Poetry for Healing was designed by Sharon Kennedy-Nolle, the 2022-2024 Sullivan County poet laureate. It’s funded by an American Academy of Poets Laureate Fellowship, and is made possible by the Mellon Foundation.

For the past six months, Kennedy-Nolle offered bi-weekly poetry workshops at NAMI Sullivan County, the VA, Dynamite, New Hope Manor and Catholic Charities. These workshops gave clients the chance to explore and express their feelings by getting them out on paper and to work through difficult experiences.

It’s only one tool to help, of course. But everything matters in a crisis. 

Each participating client has had a chosen poem mounted on a plaque installed at one of the county’s 11 libraries and civic spaces.

An interdisciplinary symposium is scheduled for Friday, May 24.

For more information, visit Sullivan County Poet Laureate on Facebook.