The call for poetry for 2025 is open. We invited poets to join us for a walk through Beals Preserve and respond to the art with a poem. The top 26 poems submitted (two for each art work) will be published in the ninth edition of Art on The Trails, due out in September 2025. Selected poets will receive a free copy of the chapbook.
How it works:
- Visit Beals Preserve, see the installations, and be inspired by their work. A guide to the art will be posted and available here after installation.
- If you can not visit the Preserve, you can also view videos by the artists on our YouTube channel after June 15. You can also view the work in our website gallery here.
- Free guided walks will be offered through the month of July.
- Write ekphrastic poetry, which is written specifically about or inspired by the installations in this exhibition.
- Poetry Submissions will be accepted from June 15 through July 31, 2025
The top 26 poems will be sent to our final judge. Our judge will choose a first prize winner who will receive a $100 prize.
The 2025 Poetry juror is Fred Gerhard.
Fred Gerhard is the author of Drifting to “Hello” (Khotso Publishing, 2023) and the chapbook Lilacs Still Bloom in Ashburnham: Songs of Spring (Local Gems Poetry Press, 2023).
His poems have appeared in Amethyst Review, Cacti Fur, Entropy Magazine, Friends Journal, Harpy Hybrid Review, Pif Magazine, POETiCA REViEW, Sylvia Magazine, and other magazines and anthologies. His poetry has been on exhibit in the Creative Connections art gallery, and the New Dawn Arts Center, both in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, and in the Fitchburg Art Museum. His poetry has also been voiced by actor Kirk Lawrence-Howard on Bespoke Vocals, available on YouTube. He is one of the 2023 winners of the Poetry in the Pines contest for which his work is installed on the trails at the Cathedral in the Pines in Rindge, New Hampshire. He is also the 2024 poetry winner for Art on the Trails.
He was the editor for the Chelmsford Poetry Review, and is currently an editor for Quabbin Quills press anthologies, and for Smoky Quartz — An Online Journal of Literature & Art.
Fred Gerhard is one of the founders of the New Dawn Writers’ Group in Ashburnham where he leads monthly poetry workshops, and hosts open mic nights. For many years he ran a poetry therapy group at Community Healthlink in Worcester, MA, and was one of the founding members of the Concord Poetry Center. He currently runs a Facebook group to help bring together and support local poets and authors. He is a member of Poets & Writers, the Worcester County Poetry Association, the Monadnock Writers’ Group, and the New England Poetry Club, and thrives on taking part in readings and getting to know other poets.
In addition, Fred Gerhard is a clinical psychologist, operator of antique trolleys, museum guide, folk dancer, musician, runner, and hiker. He particularly enjoys sitting on his porch and spending time with family, friends, and a tortoise named Twyla. Visit his virtual reading room at FredGerhard.com.