A Celebration of Earth

Our world is both magnificent and terrible. These poems celebrate both aspects. I delighted in the lush images of places I've loved seeing them through the eyes of someone who loved them, too: Santa Ana winds, poppies, the plains of Kansas. There are also harsh poems like “Trash Tree” that show us the dark side of ourselves and the world.

My favorite is “The Man I Love and the Writing Spider” because it's so close to my own experience. I watch the spider build a web of silver threads delighting in the intricacy, but when it leaves the web and wants to come inside, it becomes the enemy. I want to squash it, but I'm grateful when some braver person rescues it and gives it another chance at life or death.

The poems not only invite you to relive sensuous experiences, but they make you think about the world, how important it is, and how we need to care for it. The book is a wonderful gift for Earth Day. A good time to meditate on the magnificence of the world.