Renowned contemporary poet Pattiann Rogers explores the intricate connections between humanity and the natural world in "Firekeeper." This collection features a selection of her most impactful work, including both resonant older poems like "Suppose Your Father Was a Redbird" and new masterpieces such as "The Dream of the Marsh Wren: Reciprocal Creation." Through striking imagery and profound insights, Rogers invites readers to reflect on the elusive ties that bind us to our environment.
A unique compilation of bold essays exploring the intersections of science, the arts, and spirituality, offering thought-provoking insights and perspectives.
Exploring the intersection of poetry and nature, Pattiann Rogers shares insights into her creative process and inspirations in The Dream of the Marsh Wren. As a poet deeply connected to the land and a student of zoology, she reflects on the origins of her most celebrated works, revealing her passion for the natural world and the motivations behind her writing. This collection offers a unique glimpse into the mind of a poet who finds beauty and meaning in the intricacies of nature.
This award-winning collection celebrates the beauty and complexity of the natural world through evocative poetry. The author’s profound observations and vivid imagery invite readers to connect deeply with nature, exploring themes of life, ecology, and the human experience. Each poem reflects a lifelong dedication to capturing the essence of the environment, making it a poignant addition to the canon of nature literature. The work stands out for its lyrical quality and insightful reflections on the interplay between humanity and the natural landscape.
“[Rogers’] poems bring an openness of spirit and an almost scientific curiosity to the world at her feet, cataloging unexpected connections everywhere she looks.” —New York Times Book Review A new collection from a poet whose “celebrations of science and approachable yet profound spiritual connection to the Earth delight, entertain, and elevate” (The Poetry Foundation) Denise Levertov has called the poet Pattiann Rogers “a visionary of reality, perceiving the material world with such intensity of response that impulse, intention, meaning, interconnections beyond the skin of appearance are revealed.” The consistent theme In Flickering, her new collection, is the very breadth and prodigiousness of the universe itself. These wise poems, many inspired by various kinds of flickering actions in plants, animals, and natural processes, move nimbly between inner and outer worlds as Rogers addresses themes ranging from beauty, resilience and creation to the tensions and relationships between humans and wildness.
Winner of the John Burroughs Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry A new collection by an award-winning poet who “presents her apprehensions of the natural world with striking accuracy and emotional impact” (Orion Magazine) Denise Levertov has called Pattiann Rogers a “visionary of reality, perceiving the material world with such intensity of response that impulse, intention, meaning, interconnections beyond the skin of appearance are revealed.” Quickening Fields gathers fifty-three poems that focus on the wide variety of life forms present on earth and their unceasing zeal to exist, their constant “push against the beyond” and the human experience among these lives. Whether a glassy filament of flying insect, a spiny spider crab, a swath of switch grass, barking short-eared owls, screeching coyotes, or racing rat-tailed sperm, all are testifying to their complete devotion to being. Many of the poems also address celestial phenomena, the vision of the earth immersed in a dynamic cosmic milieu and the effects of this vision on the human spirit. While primarily lyrical and celebratory in tone, these poems acknowledge, as well, the terror, suffering, and unpredictability of the human condition.
Winner of the John Burroughs Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Nature Poetry An award-winning poet who “writes transporting poems of discovery, contemplation, and gratitude” (Booklist) Pattiann Rogers has won acclaim as one of the most original voices in contemporary American poetry. The poems in her new collection, Holy Heathen Rhapsody, embrace and embody the forces of the Earth and the creative power of its lifeforms in all the wildness of their varieties. Love in these poems is a force infused with the same creative power and intensity, the purest manifestation of the will-to-be. This vision and its making contend that even a shadow or a floating seed, a frond of green or a midnight spider, even a mongrel dog, wind over water, the human voice, the human witness, peace and weapons, all—every aspect and feature encountered—are fully endowed players in the dynamic music of the Earth.
