Closing Bell: A Brooklyn Bridge Literary Walk

The choiring strings of the Brooklyn Bridge have played muse to many a writer — among them literary heavyweights Elizabeth Bishop, Marianne Moore, Brooklyn favorite son Walt Whitman, and Hart Crane. Crane is the one who coined that “choiring strings” line in his poem “To Brooklyn Bridge.”

This evening, poet Adam Fitzgerald will lead a literary walk entitled “My Hand in Yours, Walt,” that will “examine the legacy and connections of Brooklyn Bridge’s shadow” within those writers’ works.

It’s part of a series of Wednesday night walking tours offered by the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, covering different elements of the park environment. Topics include its history, sustainability and design.

The tours, which run through October, start at Pier 1 at 6:30 pm, with a different guest lecturer every week.

Next Wednesday, July 1, Julie Golia of the Brooklyn Historical Society will discuss the piers’ long history as a hub of commerce and a transportation terminal. On July 8, Emma Nordin of the New York Historical Society will hold forth on the relations between Dutch colonists and the native Lenape clans. (Spoiler alert: They weren’t always harmonious.)

For tickets ($10) and additional information on tonight’s walk, click here. For a schedule of upcoming Wednesday night talks, click here.

Photo by Olivia Boddie