Review 356: The Ecopoetry Anthology

The Ecopoetry Anthology by Ann Fisher-wirth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Reading this book was my year-long project, although I finished a bit quicker than expected, reading it over just under ten months. I’m happy there is a book like this, yet I didn’t love it as much I hoped. 

It was nice to have a large selection of poets, and limiting the more well-known poets to a few, when their works could take much more space. Coming across a name of someone I’ve read and enjoyed before was like finding a friend in a crowded room with strangers, a moment to feel comfortable before heading off to meet new people.

I do wish the editors included dates the poems were written or published, as these poems span over decades and a date would help place the moment in which they were conceived. Breaking the book into two parts – historical and modern, was a good way in, but each section was organized differently; historical was chronological while the modern was alphabetical by last name. My preference would be for both sections to be organized the same, actually - chronologically.

A few of my favorites, but by no means all that spoke to me:

Stephen Vincent Benét : Metropolitan Nightmare 

Julianna Baggott : Living Where They Raised Me  

Peter Gizzi : Human Memory is Organic 

Louise Glück : Witchgrass 

Mary Oliver : Wild Geese  (a longtime favorite)

Ed Roberson : To See the Earth before the End of the World 

Ira Sadoff : I’ve Always Despised the Wetlands 

Gary Snyder : Riprap 

Historical section:

Stephen Vincent Benét : Metropolitan Nightmare – long but amazing!

Modern section:

Julianna Baggott : Living Where They Raised Me  (this poem spoke to me as it mentioned a film she saw as a child that affected her, and me as well…about a woman with no arms and making do, going to the grocery store, writing checks, etc. In the poem the author says she tried to do the same “practiced the barefoot art/of turning pages, scrawling my name.”  And yes, me as well, in only that I used to try to write with my feet.)

Peter Gizzi : Human Memory is Organic (maybe) doesn’t speak to me strongly today, but I do like it. Likely it stood out among the other poems before.

Then – Louise Glück : Scilla – on the opposite page of Gizzi, and okay, the next one that scrolls over to the following page – Witchgrass is good too.

Mary Oliver : Wild Geese – ah, homecoming. This poem I should memorize. I have read it many times and enjoy it every time. I feel at home with this one. A friend in the weeds of strangers.  (her other poems are good too!)

Ed Roberson : To See the Earth before the End of the World – now this is sad, and quite modern (where is the date??) and I really connected with this poem. “people chasing glaciers” and “watched ice was speed made invisible, / now –  it’s days, and a few feet further away,”  Sad! On many levels.

Ira Sadoff : I’ve Always Despised the Wetlands – funny one

Gary Snyder : Riprap – well, I’m not completely on the Snyder team…his poems are somewhat revolutionary for the time, being so placed in nature and the environment, and he has such specificity of place names and names of nature, but he has a side that I don’t like much. The selections here are good, this one I enjoyed the most of the group.