Bright Dead Things by Ada Limón

Bright Dead Things is a book of poems by Ada Limón that was published in 2015. Limón's poems are raw and personal. In reading them, I felt I was caught in an intense flood of emotions.

The title of the volume comes from Limón's poem "I Remember the Carrots" where she remembers ripping up her father's carrot crop as a child and loving her "own bright dead things." This poem was one of my favorites.

I also loved the closing lines of her poem "Outside Oklahoma, We See Boston," where Limón writes about the mud swallows building their nests,

How do they do it? Demand the sweet continuance of birth and flight in a place so utterly reckless? How masterful and mad is hope.

It was a thoughtful, intimate, engaging read.

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Flowers and A New Leaf

There have been some signs of spring here in Portland though many days have felt as blustery and cold as winter. I brought out my sundresses a month ago, but still have yet to wear them. Today, the sun is peaking out from behind the rain clouds, and I feel like spring is in the air. I'm not quite sure if I'm falling for another one of Mother Nature's tricks or not...

Flowers are blooming all the same. Here are a few recent photos from my walks near home.

A pretty beach strawberry bloom:

A saturated photograph of a little buttercup:

A delicate iris in the park:

A new leaf unfurling in my window garden:

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Forever Words by Johnny Cash

Forever Words: The Unknown Poems is a collection of Johnny Cash's poems and writings that was published posthumously in 2016. It's a remarkable look at Johnny Cash's artistry and writing process. One of my favorite things about the book is that selected lyrics and poems were presented in his own handwriting.

In his forward to the book, John Carter Cash describes his father's intellectual curiosity and love of reading and writing. Paul Muldoon's introduction describes the rationale behind publishing Johnny Cash's words after his death to "broaden and deepen our perception of Johnny Cash and his legacy." I've been thinking a lot about the quote Muldoon shared from T.S. Eliot's "Tradition and Individual Talent" that, "No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone."

A few of my favorite poems in the volume include "Chinky Pink Hill" (which I discuss here), "Does Anybody Out There Love Me?," "If You Love Me," "My Song, " "I'll Still Love You," and "You Never Knew My Mind."

"Forever" had a profoundly beautiful closing:

The songs I sang
Will still be sung

Johnny Cash's poem "Don't Make a Movie About Me" gave me a laugh with its opening lines:

If anybody made a movie out of my life
I wouldn't like it, but I'd watch it twice

I wonder if Johnny Cash would have watched "Walk the Line" twice.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Forever Words. It's a great read for any fan of The Man in Black.

Purchase and read Forever Words and listen to the accompanying CD:

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The Creation by E.O. Wilson

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth (2006) is a short book by Edward O. Wilson. In it, E.O. Wilson makes an appeal to preserve Earth's biodiversity. The book is written as a letter to a Southern pastor, and though Wilson sometimes returns to this concept, most of the book is geared towards general readers, students, naturalists, scientists, and teachers.

While my husband was at Harvard, we lived in a building where E.O. Wilson once lived. I also share his deep appreciation for the natural world.

One of my favorite quotes from this book is the introduction to Chapter 7, "Wild Nature and Human Nature," pictured below:

"Our relationship to Nature is primal. The emotions it evokes arose during the forgotten prehistory of mankind, and hence are deep and shadowed. Like childhood experiences lost from conscious memory, they are commonly felt but rarely articulated. Poets, at the highest human level of expression, try."

One of my other favorite quotes is in Chapter 13, "Exploration of a Little-Known Planet," where Wilson writes,

"Each species is a small universe in itself, from its genetic code to its anatomy, behavior, life cycle, and environmental role, and a self-perpetuating system created during an almost unimaginably complicated evolutionary history. Each species merits careers of scientific study and celebration by historians and poets."

Wilson emphasizes how much there remains to be learned about living creatures, how many species remain undiscovered, and how important it is to protect all forms of life on Earth.


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hummingbird

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A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver

A Thousand Mornings (2012) is a short volume of poetry by Mary Oliver. Her poems reflect on daily observations of the natural world, existence, and humanity.

Among my favorites in the volume is her poem "The Gardener."

Oliver writes,

"Have I lived enough?

Have I loved enough?" 

She continues,

"Actually, I probably think too much."

She concludes, by observing a gardener tending to the roses, his children.

I also enjoyed "Poem of the One World" where Oliver begins by observing a floating white heron. In "Lines Written in the Days of Growing Darkness," she reflects on the year's end. In "Green, Green is My Sister's House," Oliver writes of the wildness of spring.

In "The Moth, the Mountains, the Rivers," Oliver suggests that the reader spend worthwhile time with strange questions about nature so "that your spirit grown in curiosity, that your life be richer than it is."

Oliver has a beautiful way of reminding us to slow down, to observe our surroundings, and to find meaning in our everyday observations.


Read another review of interest:

Check out my review of Mary Oliver's Felicity.


An interview with Mary Oliver:

Listen to a 2012 interview with Mary Oliver about A Thousand Mornings at NPR. Oliver reads from her book. She also speaks about writing in the morning to set up her day and about her love of words and the mechanics of poetry.


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