Wild Song

Here are eighty-three poems on the eternal and timely themes of nature, written by both eminent poets and emerging talents. In various forms of verse, they bring to these pages a vigorous diversity of creatures, weathers, and landscapes from all regions of America. They decry ecological injuries, celebrate nature's beauties and point to its many mysteries, and bear witness to our ever-available opportunity to recognize ourselves as rightful members of the evolutionary flow of earthly life.

Poetry has a distinct and indispensable role to play in our evolving relationship with the natural world that we are at the same time part of and estranged from. Along with a scientific understanding of nature, we need just as crucially—more crucially, perhaps—a revived imaginal awareness, a knowledge based in heart and bodily systems. The diverse poems in this collection, most of them first published in Wilderness magazine, offer visions of the wildness within and around us all the time, even in the places we have altered most.

This exquisite collection contains illustrations by Deborah Randolph Wildman, adding spirit and charm to make Wild Song a lovely gift for spring and for every season.