A fine canopy : poems / by Alison Swan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Swan, Alison, author.

Series:

Made in Michigan writers series

Language:

English

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

ix, 87 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Detroit, Michigan : Wayne State University Press, [2020]

Summary:

"Alison Swan's collection of poems, A Fine Canopy, illustrates how the natural world envelops and encloses us with so many beautiful things: crowns of leaves, the ubiquitous blue sky, our luminous moon, and snow. So much snow. An ecopoet whose writing shows her advocacy for natural resources, in this collection Swan calls the reader to witness, appreciate, and sustain this world before it becomes too late. These poems were written out of an impulse to track down wisdom in the open air, outside of the noisy world of cars and commerce. Swan seeks insight on shores and in scraps of woods and fields-especially on four particular peninsulas: Michigan's upper and lower, Florida, and Washington state's Olympic-and also inside motherhood, which might be the wildest place of all. These are poems about the interconnection of all things, and "knowing things we cannot see." A journey through seasons with a soundtrack of birdsong, Swan's words are incredibly sensory. The reader is made to feel the weight of muddy jeans, the jolt at the tug of a dog's leash, and to see the bright flash of a cardinal's red plumage. Swan's poems remind us that although we all want to make a mark on our world, the smaller the better: stepping into fresh snow, dashing through forests atop dry leaves, laying wet bodies on warm concrete. These quiet interactions with places are as hopeful as they are harmless. Without necessarily tackling the topics head-on, A Fine Canopy evokes the devastation of climate change and the destruction of natural resources. This book engages deeply with the other-than-human to express and investigate alarm, dismay, anger, admiration, adoration in what feels like the end of the world unless we begin to think outside the box. These poems will carry weight with all readers of poetry, especially those who are interested in ecopoetry and connecting with the world around them"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: 1. After Reading The Late, Great Lakes

Night Train

Passerine

After an Elder Was Found in the Woods, Dead from a Self-inflicted Gunshot

Reading Walden Under a Thomas Wood Painting After the Latest News About Drones

The Day After the Day After

Grace

Ground Watchers

Bats Are Darker Than Dark Sky

Back Country

Deep Dark

Outside

Neighbor

The Living

Courage

Here

2. The Dump at Ciudad Juarez

Snow

Wish

And All

Signs

Proposal for a National Park Service Brochure

True Story

Self-Serve

A House in the Country

The Language of Field Guides

Anisoptera, Florida

Another Coast

Sand Key

Some Things I Needed to Know

Report from the End of the Twentieth Century

Lake Effect

3. If He Could Keep Her, He Would

Succession

His

Catalogue

Archived

Ways

Self-Defense

Farther North and Across a Sea

Antivenin No. 1

4. In Medias Res

Porch Swing

The Branch Might Break

Fire

Memorial Service in Sanctuary Woods

One by One

Settlement

Detroit

Lifeboat

Before the Snow Moon

After the Flood

Aubade

There Is Always This

The Old Days

Love, Exactly

Beginning With My Daughter's First Word.

ISBN:

0814348068

9780814348062

OCLC:

1144097323