A many-layered and deeply spiritual collection celebrating the landscape of the northern Pacific coast.
Editors Nelson, Wirth, and MacWilliam present a collection of poetry and prose from the Pacific Northwest.
“Cascadia” has long been used as a poetic nickname for the Pacific Northwest, including the states of Washington and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia. The designation speaks not only to the shared cultural and political affinities of the region but also to the common landscape of rainy temperate forests and lush river valleys that sit in the shadow of the Cascade Range. This anthology explores the connection of that region to a particular philosophical disposition found among some of its inhabitants—Zen Buddhism. It isn’t as random a pairing as it may initially sound, given Cascadians’ long-standing fascination with both Eastern philosophy and their own natural environment. Poet Andrew Schelling describes the relationship in his foreword: “Ecology, conservation biology, cybernetics, rewilding; these sciences brought refinement to the longstanding Buddhist question: whether such a thing as a separate living creature even exists, apart from an ecosystem of energy exchange, geomorphic forces, weather, and food chains.” The kinship of every organism, whether or not it is appreciated or acknowledged, is a recurrent theme in the collection, as when Daphne Marlatt writes in her piece “full spectrum eye appeal” of “sea cuke’s moptop licking its / tentacle chops we forget / underwater gastronomy / its delicate clarity of interception, inter- / connection lost // to the dry suit beings we are…” Some pieces acknowledge the ways in which the landscape reflects back cosmological patterns like death and rebirth, as in Mushim Patricia Ikeda’s “heart sūtra fragment 5”: “mountains and rivers / creeks, spillways, marshes, sloughs // trickledowns and whitewaters / gravity is impersonal / we all return to ground // but tonight I think rebirth / is simply this: from these small vessels, our bodies // we naturally overturn and spill out / into vastness and return…”
The anthology succeeds in collecting work representing the various traditions that inform its mission. Beat poets Philip Whalen, Gary Snyder, and Michael McClure are included here, as are poets Jane Hirshfield and Tess Gallagher (more surprising, but no less welcome, is Denise Levertov). There are translators of Asian poetry, including Red Pine and Schelling (who also contributes a few original poems), as well as Indigenous poets such as Rena Priest and Wedlidi Speck. In “Bardo,” Alicia Hokanson memorably compares flying over the landscape to the Buddhist notion of the bardo: “our small plane hums // over the lightly ruffled waves / of island waters // all the grays above / and all the greens below // torn heaven / stitched earth // and we, rent creatures, / suspended in between…” Interspersed among the poems are relevant essays, as well as photographs and other artwork. Most of the writers have contributed several pieces, allowing the reader to get a sense of each contributor’s spiritual and aesthetic ecosystem. The volume makes for a wonderfully fertile collection, with ideas and voices mingling seamlessly in a way that does indeed summon the natural wonders of Cascadia.
A many-layered and deeply spiritual collection celebrating the landscape of the northern Pacific coast.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9798890742780
Page Count: 215
Publisher: Watershed Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 10, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
