The Poetry Project

Stacy Szymaszek

A person, Stacy Szymaszek, with short gray hair and glasses sits smiling on a rustic wooden bench outdoors in autumn. They are wearing an olive green jacket, tan pants, and brown cowboy boots. They are smiling with their hands clasped loosely in front of them. Behind them is a wooded landscape with thin trees and fallen leaves in shades of brown, yellow, and orange. The backrest of the bench is engraved with text written by Szymaszek: “we don’t remember / the destroying storm / In the hour of grace."
© Josh Wise

Stacy Szymaszek is a poet and graduate student in anthrozoology living in New York’s Upper Hudson Valley. They are the author of ten books of poetry, including Journal of Ugly Sites and Other Journals, which won the Ottoline Prize from Fence Books, A Year From Today, The Pasolini Book, Essay, and About the House. From 2007–2018, they served as Executive Director of The Poetry Project. Szymaszek is the Development Director for a nonprofit farm where they also run a volunteer cow grooming program. Their graduate work in anthrozoology focuses on human-animal relationships and farmed animal welfare. Their pamphlet, The Gratitude Herd: A Practical and Speculative Plan for Elder Dairy Cows, is available for free from 1080 Press. They also run Bos Books, a small roving bookshop based out of C. Cassis Tasting Room in Rhinebeck, NY, specializing in literature about animals, biodiversity, agriculture, literature, and the arts.