Ray Zimmerman's Blog, page 2
September 6, 2024
Writing Matters
As much as I like live theatre, I don’t make it to many shows, so I was pleased to learn of a presentation at Chattanooga’s Barking Legs Theatre on Sunday, August 18. Members of the Rhyme N Chatt Interactive Poetry Organization teamed up with Chattanooga playwright Peggy Douglas to give a series of Dramatic Readings of poetic monologues.
Watch Rhyme N Chatt’s video of the performance on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBxh6...
I made plans to attend as soon as I heard of this event. Presentations by Rhyme N Chatt are always excellent, and I have recently become a member. The playwright is a friend and was the 2022 Tennessee Arts Commission Playwright Fellow. She has written and produced a dozen plays and Walnut Street Publishing just released We Speak: Voices from Chattanooga’s Disregarded, a collection of monologues drawn from several of her plays. https://walnutstreetpublishing.com/pr....
Douglas spent years listening to stories of disregarded people and groups of people to produce her plays. Several monologues from her plays appear in the book, beginning with powerful stories by the incarcerated and ending with stories by Chattanooga Elders, many of whom are part of marginalized communities. Along the way, the reader will encounter numerous other groups.
My Upcoming Performances
Walnut Street Publishing will release my new book of poems on November 1 with a Friday evening launch at Clear Story Arts. The book is now in the design stage. Information will appear on the publisher’s website as the launch date approaches.
Thanks to Reve Coffee and Books for becoming a vendor of my current books Healing and Conflict and We Are Water. They will have a table at the Chattanooga Public Library’s Local Authors Fair on September 7. I will be reading my poetry and distributing my free poetry posters. Walnut Street Books will have a sales table for their current titles. I have heard that 60 authors will participate through readings, sales tables, and workshops.
My self-published books are still available at The Chattanooga Audubon Society’s gift shop at Audubon Acres and the Winder Binder Mercantile in Chattanooga. I am putting the finishing touches on a book of prose and poetry titled Spirit Birds, my name for cranes. I expect to release it sometime next year. Another prose book is on the back burner for now.
In August I gave a poetry workshop for the Chattanooga Public Library’s Write and Chatt group. I hope to provide another in-person poetry workshop in Chattanooga and a similar online event sometime in the next two months.
For those of you who write, please keep writing.
Watch Rhyme N Chatt’s video of the performance on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBxh6...
I made plans to attend as soon as I heard of this event. Presentations by Rhyme N Chatt are always excellent, and I have recently become a member. The playwright is a friend and was the 2022 Tennessee Arts Commission Playwright Fellow. She has written and produced a dozen plays and Walnut Street Publishing just released We Speak: Voices from Chattanooga’s Disregarded, a collection of monologues drawn from several of her plays. https://walnutstreetpublishing.com/pr....
Douglas spent years listening to stories of disregarded people and groups of people to produce her plays. Several monologues from her plays appear in the book, beginning with powerful stories by the incarcerated and ending with stories by Chattanooga Elders, many of whom are part of marginalized communities. Along the way, the reader will encounter numerous other groups.
My Upcoming Performances
Walnut Street Publishing will release my new book of poems on November 1 with a Friday evening launch at Clear Story Arts. The book is now in the design stage. Information will appear on the publisher’s website as the launch date approaches.
Thanks to Reve Coffee and Books for becoming a vendor of my current books Healing and Conflict and We Are Water. They will have a table at the Chattanooga Public Library’s Local Authors Fair on September 7. I will be reading my poetry and distributing my free poetry posters. Walnut Street Books will have a sales table for their current titles. I have heard that 60 authors will participate through readings, sales tables, and workshops.
My self-published books are still available at The Chattanooga Audubon Society’s gift shop at Audubon Acres and the Winder Binder Mercantile in Chattanooga. I am putting the finishing touches on a book of prose and poetry titled Spirit Birds, my name for cranes. I expect to release it sometime next year. Another prose book is on the back burner for now.
In August I gave a poetry workshop for the Chattanooga Public Library’s Write and Chatt group. I hope to provide another in-person poetry workshop in Chattanooga and a similar online event sometime in the next two months.
For those of you who write, please keep writing.
April 23, 2022
Southern by Nature
Southern by Nature
As I continue to write about nature here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I have also been reading some of the classic works of nature writing. A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and the Outermost House by Henry Beston were two of the many I knew before arriving here. I have read others because I have been told, and have come to believe, that one should read the best writing from the genre in which one wants to write.
Over the years, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, and Edward Abby have become favorites. Still, they are westerners, just as Leopold represents the Midwest and Thoreau and Beston represent New England. I asked myself, who are the classic nature writers of my adopted home, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the southeastern states?
I looked at my library and other resources and began formulating a list. This is just the beginning, but here are a few comments on southern nature writers. If you have other favorites, please bring them to my attention.
Wendell Berry is perhaps the best-known living southern nature writer. He experienced life abroad in Italy and France and lived in the City of New York before intentionally returning to his roots in Kentucky. He has resided on a working farm in Port Royal, Kentucky, from that time forward. He has written about the decision to return to the land, his decision not to own a computer, and the advice he has received to decide differently.
Although many readers would focus on his fiction, I have primarily read his nonfiction and poetry. Sabbath Poems and The Farm are favorites. I highly recommend his nonfiction books, Think Little, The Unforeseen Wilderness, A Continuous Harmony, and The Unsettling of America. I think he represents an essential voice in nature literature.
Ron Rash’s poetry and fiction are also frequently mentioned in discussions of nature literature here in Chattanooga. The landscape often becomes a character in his poetry, short fiction, and novels. I am particularly fond of his works, Saints at the River, One Foot in Eden, The World made Straight, and Raising the Dead, one of his poetry collections. His celebrated novel Serena is his best-known work.
Any list of southern nature writers must include J. Drew Lanham, deer hunter, bird watcher, naturalist, and distinguished professor at Clemson University. He authored the award-winning memoir, The Home Place and a book of poems titled Sparrow Envy.
Lanham is also a Black Man, and his prose poem “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher” appeared in Orion Magazine. Rule 2 advises readers always to carry their binoculars and three forms of identification. He continues, “You’ll need the photo IDs to convince the cops, FBI, Homeland Security, and the flashlight-toting security guard that you’re not a terrorist or escaped convict.”
I have reviewed two books by David George Haskell, a professor at the University of the South. His newest book, Sounds Wild and Broken, is equally exciting. His work certainly deserves a place on the bookshelf of contemporary southern nature writers, although he was born in England.
The John Burroughs Association awarded Haskell the John Burroughs Medal, an award for distinguished nature writing, in 2018 for his second book, The Songs of Trees. In his first book, The Forest Unseen, Haskell watches the changes through a year in a forest on the property of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Franklin Burroughs received the John Burroughs Medal in 2009 for his book Confluence, Merrymeeting Bay. He grew up in Conway, South Carolina, studied at the University of the South and Harvard University, and is a Professor Emeritus at Bowdoin College in Maine. His nature writing focuses on South Carolina and Maine. I read and reviewed his book, Billy Watson’s Croaker Sack, after hearing him read excerpts at the Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga many years ago.
I would include two Chattanooga Authors in this list, specifically Robert Sparks Walker and Emma Bell Miles. My article in the Chattanooga Pulse about Robert Sparks Walker told part of his story, but not all. Walker received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Torchlights to the Cherokees, but his second collection of poems, My Father’s Farm, is my favorite of his books. http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/featu...
I have only begun reading Our Southern Birds by Emma Bell Miles. I have a copy of Spirit of the Mountains, but its focus is on the Appalachian people of Walden’s Ridge.
Historically, I should also mention Spring Notes from Tennessee by Bradford Torrey © 1896. I have read Torrey’s book and found his stories of birds in the Chattanooga area illuminating. He was a New Englander, and his other works do not address the southern landscape. Still, Spring Noes from Tennessee required weeks of observation on Missionary Ridge, Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, and other Chattanooga area locations.
William Bartram of Philadelphia traveled in the American south between 1773 and 1777, assigning scientific names to plants and sending specimens to his father’s nursery for propagation. He recorded descriptions of the landscape and his encounters with various indigenous people. James and Johnson of Philadelphia published his book in 1791. I have read portions and ordered a copy of the text.
As I continue to write about nature here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I have also been reading some of the classic works of nature writing. A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and the Outermost House by Henry Beston were two of the many I knew before arriving here. I have read others because I have been told, and have come to believe, that one should read the best writing from the genre in which one wants to write.
Over the years, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, and Edward Abby have become favorites. Still, they are westerners, just as Leopold represents the Midwest and Thoreau and Beston represent New England. I asked myself, who are the classic nature writers of my adopted home, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the southeastern states?
I looked at my library and other resources and began formulating a list. This is just the beginning, but here are a few comments on southern nature writers. If you have other favorites, please bring them to my attention.
Wendell Berry is perhaps the best-known living southern nature writer. He experienced life abroad in Italy and France and lived in the City of New York before intentionally returning to his roots in Kentucky. He has resided on a working farm in Port Royal, Kentucky, from that time forward. He has written about the decision to return to the land, his decision not to own a computer, and the advice he has received to decide differently.
Although many readers would focus on his fiction, I have primarily read his nonfiction and poetry. Sabbath Poems and The Farm are favorites. I highly recommend his nonfiction books, Think Little, The Unforeseen Wilderness, A Continuous Harmony, and The Unsettling of America. I think he represents an essential voice in nature literature.
Ron Rash’s poetry and fiction are also frequently mentioned in discussions of nature literature here in Chattanooga. The landscape often becomes a character in his poetry, short fiction, and novels. I am particularly fond of his works, Saints at the River, One Foot in Eden, The World made Straight, and Raising the Dead, one of his poetry collections. His celebrated novel Serena is his best-known work.
Any list of southern nature writers must include J. Drew Lanham, deer hunter, bird watcher, naturalist, and distinguished professor at Clemson University. He authored the award-winning memoir, The Home Place and a book of poems titled Sparrow Envy.
Lanham is also a Black Man, and his prose poem “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher” appeared in Orion Magazine. Rule 2 advises readers always to carry their binoculars and three forms of identification. He continues, “You’ll need the photo IDs to convince the cops, FBI, Homeland Security, and the flashlight-toting security guard that you’re not a terrorist or escaped convict.”
I have reviewed two books by David George Haskell, a professor at the University of the South. His newest book, Sounds Wild and Broken, is equally exciting. His work certainly deserves a place on the bookshelf of contemporary southern nature writers, although he was born in England.
The John Burroughs Association awarded Haskell the John Burroughs Medal, an award for distinguished nature writing, in 2018 for his second book, The Songs of Trees. In his first book, The Forest Unseen, Haskell watches the changes through a year in a forest on the property of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Franklin Burroughs received the John Burroughs Medal in 2009 for his book Confluence, Merrymeeting Bay. He grew up in Conway, South Carolina, studied at the University of the South and Harvard University, and is a Professor Emeritus at Bowdoin College in Maine. His nature writing focuses on South Carolina and Maine. I read and reviewed his book, Billy Watson’s Croaker Sack, after hearing him read excerpts at the Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga many years ago.
I would include two Chattanooga Authors in this list, specifically Robert Sparks Walker and Emma Bell Miles. My article in the Chattanooga Pulse about Robert Sparks Walker told part of his story, but not all. Walker received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Torchlights to the Cherokees, but his second collection of poems, My Father’s Farm, is my favorite of his books. http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/featu...
I have only begun reading Our Southern Birds by Emma Bell Miles. I have a copy of Spirit of the Mountains, but its focus is on the Appalachian people of Walden’s Ridge.
Historically, I should also mention Spring Notes from Tennessee by Bradford Torrey © 1896. I have read Torrey’s book and found his stories of birds in the Chattanooga area illuminating. He was a New Englander, and his other works do not address the southern landscape. Still, Spring Noes from Tennessee required weeks of observation on Missionary Ridge, Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, and other Chattanooga area locations.
William Bartram of Philadelphia traveled in the American south between 1773 and 1777, assigning scientific names to plants and sending specimens to his father’s nursery for propagation. He recorded descriptions of the landscape and his encounters with various indigenous people. James and Johnson of Philadelphia published his book in 1791. I have read portions and ordered a copy of the text.
Southern by Nature
Southern by Nature
As I continue to write about nature here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I have also been reading some of the classic works of nature writing. A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and the Outermost House by Henry Beston were two of the many I knew before arriving here. I have read others because I have been told, and have come to believe, that one should read the best writing from the genre in which one wants to write.
Over the years, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, and Edward Abby have become favorites. Still, they are westerners, just as Leopold represents the Midwest and Thoreau and Beston represent New England. I asked myself, who are the classic nature writers of my adopted home, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the southeastern states?
I looked at my library and other resources and began formulating a list. This is just the beginning, but here are a few comments on southern nature writers. If you have other favorites, please bring them to my attention.
Wendell Berry is perhaps the best-known living southern nature writer. He experienced life abroad in Italy and France and lived in the City of New York before intentionally returning to his roots in Kentucky. He has resided on a working farm in Port Royal, Kentucky, from that time forward. He has written about the decision to return to the land, his decision not to own a computer, and the advice he has received to decide differently.
Although many readers would focus on his fiction, I have primarily read his nonfiction and poetry. Sabbath Poems and The Farm are favorites. I highly recommend his nonfiction books, Think Little, The Unforeseen Wilderness, A Continuous Harmony, and The Unsettling of America. I think he represents an essential voice in nature literature.
Ron Rash’s poetry and fiction are also frequently mentioned in discussions of nature literature here in Chattanooga. The landscape often becomes a character in his poetry, short fiction, and novels. I am particularly fond of his works, Saints at the River, One Foot in Eden, The World made Straight, and Raising the Dead, one of his poetry collections. His celebrated novel Serena is his best-known work.
Any list of southern nature writers must include J. Drew Lanham, deer hunter, bird watcher, naturalist, and distinguished professor at Clemson University. He authored the award-winning memoir, The Home Place and a book of poems titled Sparrow Envy.
Lanham is also a Black Man, and his prose poem “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher” appeared in Orion Magazine. Rule 2 advises readers always to carry their binoculars and three forms of identification. He continues, “You’ll need the photo IDs to convince the cops, FBI, Homeland Security, and the flashlight-toting security guard that you’re not a terrorist or escaped convict.”
I have reviewed two books by David George Haskell, a professor at the University of the South. His newest book, Sounds Wild and Broken, is equally exciting. His work certainly deserves a place on the bookshelf of contemporary southern nature writers, although he was born in England.
The John Burroughs Association awarded Haskell the John Burroughs Medal, an award for distinguished nature writing, in 2018 for his second book, The Songs of Trees. In his first book, The Forest Unseen, Haskell watches the changes through a year in a forest on the property of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Franklin Burroughs received the John Burroughs Medal in 2009 for his book Confluence, Merrymeeting Bay. He grew up in Conway, South Carolina, studied at the University of the South and Harvard University, and is a Professor Emeritus at Bowdoin College in Maine. His nature writing focuses on South Carolina and Maine. I read and reviewed his book, Billy Watson’s Croaker Sack, after hearing him read excerpts at the Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga many years ago.
I would include two Chattanooga Authors in this list, specifically Robert Sparks Walker and Emma Bell Miles. My article in the Chattanooga Pulse about Robert Sparks Walker told part of his story, but not all. Walker received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Torchlights to the Cherokees, but his second collection of poems, My Father’s Farm, is my favorite of his books. http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/featu...
I have only begun reading Our Southern Birds by Emma Bell Miles. I have a copy of Spirit of the Mountains, but its focus is on the Appalachian people of Walden’s Ridge.
Historically, I should also mention Spring Notes from Tennessee by Bradford Torrey © 1896. I have read Torrey’s book and found his stories of birds in the Chattanooga area illuminating. He was a New Englander, and his other works do not address the southern landscape. Still, Spring Noes from Tennessee required weeks of observation on Missionary Ridge, Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, and other Chattanooga area locations.
William Bartram of Philadelphia traveled in the American south between 1773 and 1777, assigning scientific names to plants and sending specimens to his father’s nursery for propagation. He recorded descriptions of the landscape and his encounters with various indigenous people. James and Johnson of Philadelphia published his book in 1791. I have read portions and ordered a copy of the text.
As I continue to write about nature here in Chattanooga, Tennessee, I have also been reading some of the classic works of nature writing. A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold and the Outermost House by Henry Beston were two of the many I knew before arriving here. I have read others because I have been told, and have come to believe, that one should read the best writing from the genre in which one wants to write.
Over the years, Terry Tempest Williams, Barry Lopez, and Edward Abby have become favorites. Still, they are westerners, just as Leopold represents the Midwest and Thoreau and Beston represent New England. I asked myself, who are the classic nature writers of my adopted home, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the southeastern states?
I looked at my library and other resources and began formulating a list. This is just the beginning, but here are a few comments on southern nature writers. If you have other favorites, please bring them to my attention.
Wendell Berry is perhaps the best-known living southern nature writer. He experienced life abroad in Italy and France and lived in the City of New York before intentionally returning to his roots in Kentucky. He has resided on a working farm in Port Royal, Kentucky, from that time forward. He has written about the decision to return to the land, his decision not to own a computer, and the advice he has received to decide differently.
Although many readers would focus on his fiction, I have primarily read his nonfiction and poetry. Sabbath Poems and The Farm are favorites. I highly recommend his nonfiction books, Think Little, The Unforeseen Wilderness, A Continuous Harmony, and The Unsettling of America. I think he represents an essential voice in nature literature.
Ron Rash’s poetry and fiction are also frequently mentioned in discussions of nature literature here in Chattanooga. The landscape often becomes a character in his poetry, short fiction, and novels. I am particularly fond of his works, Saints at the River, One Foot in Eden, The World made Straight, and Raising the Dead, one of his poetry collections. His celebrated novel Serena is his best-known work.
Any list of southern nature writers must include J. Drew Lanham, deer hunter, bird watcher, naturalist, and distinguished professor at Clemson University. He authored the award-winning memoir, The Home Place and a book of poems titled Sparrow Envy.
Lanham is also a Black Man, and his prose poem “9 Rules for the Black Birdwatcher” appeared in Orion Magazine. Rule 2 advises readers always to carry their binoculars and three forms of identification. He continues, “You’ll need the photo IDs to convince the cops, FBI, Homeland Security, and the flashlight-toting security guard that you’re not a terrorist or escaped convict.”
I have reviewed two books by David George Haskell, a professor at the University of the South. His newest book, Sounds Wild and Broken, is equally exciting. His work certainly deserves a place on the bookshelf of contemporary southern nature writers, although he was born in England.
The John Burroughs Association awarded Haskell the John Burroughs Medal, an award for distinguished nature writing, in 2018 for his second book, The Songs of Trees. In his first book, The Forest Unseen, Haskell watches the changes through a year in a forest on the property of the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
Franklin Burroughs received the John Burroughs Medal in 2009 for his book Confluence, Merrymeeting Bay. He grew up in Conway, South Carolina, studied at the University of the South and Harvard University, and is a Professor Emeritus at Bowdoin College in Maine. His nature writing focuses on South Carolina and Maine. I read and reviewed his book, Billy Watson’s Croaker Sack, after hearing him read excerpts at the Conference on Southern Literature in Chattanooga many years ago.
I would include two Chattanooga Authors in this list, specifically Robert Sparks Walker and Emma Bell Miles. My article in the Chattanooga Pulse about Robert Sparks Walker told part of his story, but not all. Walker received a Pulitzer Prize nomination for Torchlights to the Cherokees, but his second collection of poems, My Father’s Farm, is my favorite of his books. http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/featu...
I have only begun reading Our Southern Birds by Emma Bell Miles. I have a copy of Spirit of the Mountains, but its focus is on the Appalachian people of Walden’s Ridge.
Historically, I should also mention Spring Notes from Tennessee by Bradford Torrey © 1896. I have read Torrey’s book and found his stories of birds in the Chattanooga area illuminating. He was a New Englander, and his other works do not address the southern landscape. Still, Spring Noes from Tennessee required weeks of observation on Missionary Ridge, Signal Mountain, Lookout Mountain, and other Chattanooga area locations.
William Bartram of Philadelphia traveled in the American south between 1773 and 1777, assigning scientific names to plants and sending specimens to his father’s nursery for propagation. He recorded descriptions of the landscape and his encounters with various indigenous people. James and Johnson of Philadelphia published his book in 1791. I have read portions and ordered a copy of the text.
August 3, 2021
Reading Nature
Reading Nature by Tristan Cooley
A review
The book is much more valuable if you do the exercises provided with each chapter. I tried the first one before and during a walk to my favorite waterfall. Observations increased at least threefold during the walk. As observations increased, journaling increased also. Well worth a second read.
View all my reviews
A review
The book is much more valuable if you do the exercises provided with each chapter. I tried the first one before and during a walk to my favorite waterfall. Observations increased at least threefold during the walk. As observations increased, journaling increased also. Well worth a second read.
View all my reviews
July 28, 2021
Why I Write About Nature
I have a friend who says that nature writing must be more than just a description; it must include a metaphor This friend is a fine human being, and I have no wish to disparage him or his excellent poetry. When I say that I respectfully disagree, please emphasize the word respectfully.
I am suspicious of anyone who only values nature for the uses we make of the natural world. I learned early on to question those who asked, “What good is a mosquito, or even a salamander?” I have sometimes responded with the answer, “What good are we?”
There was a time when I would have said that there is no difference between mining the earth for coal and mining it for metaphors. I have since changed my opinion.
I have even come to believe that the reasons for setting land aside make no difference, so long as they preserve the intrinsic value of the land.
Setting aside land is good, even if the land is preserved for solely utilitarian purposes, like increasing the property values of nearby real estate holdings, an idea that would have once sent me into a tirade of condemnation.
For me, nature’s value comes as solace and healing. I am willing to risk being condemned as a heretic when I say that for me, Glen Falls is a sacred space. It gets me away from the drone of highway noise from Interstate-24, thoroughly audible in my back yard, and the industrial noise of so-called civilization.
When I hear the gentle trickle of the dry weather steam or the booming choir after a heavy rain my spirit is revived. This renewal seems to be universal. It harkens to both the sacred Ganges of Hinduism and the use of running water for ritual cleansing by the Old Testament Hebrews. The Jordan River and John the Baptizer may come to mind.
Lately, I have been reading Father Richard Rohr’s book Every Thing is Sacred and the accompanying volume, The Universal Christ. His theology is incarnational, with a belief that God loves all things by becoming them.
According to his words, the creation of the universe is an outpouring of the Divine. Women and men, fogs, snakes, and even oak trees not only reflect God but have a part of God within. His thoughts dovetail nicely with those of Annie Dillard expressed in Holy the Firm, and Terry Tempest Williams in Coyote’s Canyon.
They also reflect the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer as related in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, and especially in her essay, “Speaking of Nature,” as published in Orion magazine. She speaks of the personhood of all living things and is thoroughly offended by the use of the pronoun "it" to refer to animals, plants, and even rivers.
I believe Father Rohr would feel right at home in her world, yet I have read that the Vatican has found his works to be “free of doctrinal error," This surprises me, but I must confess that I have little understanding of Roman Catholic theology or internal politics. Nevertheless, Father Rohr is said to take great pride in this stamp of approval.
I know I could feel at home in the world of any of these authors, and their works are among my favorites.
Well, time is running short for this project and there may be a crowd gathering outside my house with torches and pitchforks. Until next time, safe travels to all of you, my readers.
I have a friend who says that nature writing must be more than just a description; it must include a metaphor This friend is a fine human being, and I have no wish to disparage him or his excellent poetry. When I say that I respectfully disagree, please emphasize the word respectfully.
I am suspicious of anyone who only values nature for the uses we make of the natural world. I learned early on to question those who asked, “What good is a mosquito, or even a salamander?” I have sometimes responded with the answer, “What good are we?”
There was a time when I would have said that there is no difference between mining the earth for coal and mining it for metaphors. I have since changed my opinion.
I have even come to believe that the reasons for setting land aside make no difference, so long as they preserve the intrinsic value of the land.
Setting aside land is good, even if the land is preserved for solely utilitarian purposes, like increasing the property values of nearby real estate holdings, an idea that would have once sent me into a tirade of condemnation.
For me, nature’s value comes as solace and healing. I am willing to risk being condemned as a heretic when I say that for me, Glen Falls is a sacred space. It gets me away from the drone of highway noise from Interstate-24, thoroughly audible in my back yard, and the industrial noise of so-called civilization.
When I hear the gentle trickle of the dry weather steam or the booming choir after a heavy rain my spirit is revived. This renewal seems to be universal. It harkens to both the sacred Ganges of Hinduism and the use of running water for ritual cleansing by the Old Testament Hebrews. The Jordan River and John the Baptizer may come to mind.
Lately, I have been reading Father Richard Rohr’s book Every Thing is Sacred and the accompanying volume, The Universal Christ. His theology is incarnational, with a belief that God loves all things by becoming them.
According to his words, the creation of the universe is an outpouring of the Divine. Women and men, fogs, snakes, and even oak trees not only reflect God but have a part of God within. His thoughts dovetail nicely with those of Annie Dillard expressed in Holy the Firm, and Terry Tempest Williams in Coyote’s Canyon.
They also reflect the words of Robin Wall Kimmerer as related in her book Braiding Sweetgrass, and especially in her essay, “Speaking of Nature,” as published in Orion magazine. She speaks of the personhood of all living things and is thoroughly offended by the use of the pronoun "it" to refer to animals, plants, and even rivers.
I believe Father Rohr would feel right at home in her world, yet I have read that the Vatican has found his works to be “free of doctrinal error," This surprises me, but I must confess that I have little understanding of Roman Catholic theology or internal politics. Nevertheless, Father Rohr is said to take great pride in this stamp of approval.
I know I could feel at home in the world of any of these authors, and their works are among my favorites.
Well, time is running short for this project and there may be a crowd gathering outside my house with torches and pitchforks. Until next time, safe travels to all of you, my readers.
May 18, 2021
The Kings Coin
Finn Bille, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, announces his fourth collection of poems: The King’s Coin: Danish-American Poems. Finn refers to this collection--which includes notes on Danish history and geography as well as Finn’s biography--as his “binational poems.”
His previous poetry collections are Waking Dreams, Rites of the Earth, and Fire Poems.
Finn's poems have appeared in anthologies and literary magazines, including The Bridge: Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society. Julie K. Allen, the editor, said this in her review of the book:
In The King's Coin, Bille's graceful, vivid poems work a kind of magic, putting the poet's Danish memories and songs into eloquent English while capturing the ephemeral but undeniable cost of emigration and adaptation to a new cultural context...This collection makes a sensually and emotionally rich contribution to the literature of hyphenated identity that should resonate with readers far beyond the borders of both the remembered Denmark and America he so skillfully evokes.
The King's Coin is now available as a free download from his website, finnbille.com. Print copies are available from The Museum of Danish America, both in their giftshop and by mail. They are also available at Winder Binder Mercantile in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
As indicated in his poems, Finn visits Denmark frequently. His poem "every time I say goodbye" is a lament about his separation when returning to his adopted home in America after visiting family in Denmark.
Every time I say goodbye,
I see my mother lean
on the brown half door
overhung by thatch of bundled reeds
spotted green and weathered grey.
Her red rag tight around her brow,
she struggles to smile, her knuckles white
her blue eyes blank
as I turn
my face reduced to memory
Dr. Finn Bille received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He attended high school in Copenhagen and attended both the University of Copenhagen and Pepperdine University in California, and served in the Royal Danish Navy. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Jeanne, his wife of 56 years.
His previous poetry collections are Waking Dreams, Rites of the Earth, and Fire Poems.
Finn's poems have appeared in anthologies and literary magazines, including The Bridge: Journal of the Danish American Heritage Society. Julie K. Allen, the editor, said this in her review of the book:
In The King's Coin, Bille's graceful, vivid poems work a kind of magic, putting the poet's Danish memories and songs into eloquent English while capturing the ephemeral but undeniable cost of emigration and adaptation to a new cultural context...This collection makes a sensually and emotionally rich contribution to the literature of hyphenated identity that should resonate with readers far beyond the borders of both the remembered Denmark and America he so skillfully evokes.
The King's Coin is now available as a free download from his website, finnbille.com. Print copies are available from The Museum of Danish America, both in their giftshop and by mail. They are also available at Winder Binder Mercantile in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
As indicated in his poems, Finn visits Denmark frequently. His poem "every time I say goodbye" is a lament about his separation when returning to his adopted home in America after visiting family in Denmark.
Every time I say goodbye,
I see my mother lean
on the brown half door
overhung by thatch of bundled reeds
spotted green and weathered grey.
Her red rag tight around her brow,
she struggles to smile, her knuckles white
her blue eyes blank
as I turn
my face reduced to memory
Dr. Finn Bille received a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in English at Georgia State University in Atlanta. He attended high school in Copenhagen and attended both the University of Copenhagen and Pepperdine University in California, and served in the Royal Danish Navy. He lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with Jeanne, his wife of 56 years.
May 13, 2021
New Articles
I have some new articles in the Chattanooga Pulse and Hellbender Press as follows.
Read Ray Zimmerman’s recent review of The King’s Coin by Finn Bille in the Chattanooga Pulse.
http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/arts_...
Read Ray Zimmerman’s review of Loving the Dead by Helga Kidder in the Chattanooga Pulse http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/arts_... Her book won the 2020 Blue light Press Book Award.
Ray Zimmerman interviews Chattanooga Poets Finn Bille and Helga Kidder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xga6X....
Here is an article about hellbender salamanders of Tennessee's Highland Rim in Hellbender Press. https://hellbenderpress.org/news/hell...
Ray Zimmerman's article about Wildlife Rehabilitation appeared in The Hellbender Press. https://hellbenderpress.org/news/wild...
An Article about the Chattanooga Zoo: https://hellbenderpress.org/item/65-z...
Chattanooga Zoo reintroduces
Read Ray Zimmerman’s recent review of The King’s Coin by Finn Bille in the Chattanooga Pulse.
http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/arts_...
Read Ray Zimmerman’s review of Loving the Dead by Helga Kidder in the Chattanooga Pulse http://www.chattanoogapulse.com/arts_... Her book won the 2020 Blue light Press Book Award.
Ray Zimmerman interviews Chattanooga Poets Finn Bille and Helga Kidder https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xga6X....
Here is an article about hellbender salamanders of Tennessee's Highland Rim in Hellbender Press. https://hellbenderpress.org/news/hell...
Ray Zimmerman's article about Wildlife Rehabilitation appeared in The Hellbender Press. https://hellbenderpress.org/news/wild...
An Article about the Chattanooga Zoo: https://hellbenderpress.org/item/65-z...
Chattanooga Zoo reintroduces
February 28, 2021
Stories of Place
Stories of Place
All writing is place-based, or so they say. I don’t know who said it first, but it may have been Wendell Berry. He may have written while teaching in New York, but his return to Kentucky is marked as the beginning of his literary career. In one of his essays, Berry speaks of how others tried to dissuade him from that return, fearing that leaving New York would end his career.
Berry’s fictional town of Port William, where his novels and short stories occur, is based on Port Royal, Kentucky, where he lives. His poetry and nonfiction spring from the soil of the working farm where he lives.
Although I am sure Berry knows that some of his books have been electronically published, I am also certain that he has not read them on an electronic device. He does not own a computer. He handwrites his manuscripts which his wife types on a manual typewriter.
As I Look through the books on my shelves, I see many that are place-based. They are the ones I have already read and seem to turn to regularly. For the next few weeks, I will focus the content of my newsletter and blog on place-based writing.
Help Along the Way
Tell it Slant is a lovely resource for writers wanting to explore the creative nonfiction genre. Reading the short chapters, you will gain insights on writing a family history, a memoir, or a travel piece. The authors included other aspects such as nature writing and literary journalism. The chapters end with numerous "try it" exercises to get you writing.
Shameless Self Promotion
My short story, "Life After Writing," won first place in the Chattanooga Writers' Guild's October contest. It takes place right where I live since it is a satire of organized critique groups,
https://chattanoogawritersguild.files...
My article, "Counting Hawks," recently appeared in the online publication, Appalachian Voices. https://appvoices.org/2021/02/26/coun...
Some of this content is drawn from my newsletter, Rayz Reviewz.
All writing is place-based, or so they say. I don’t know who said it first, but it may have been Wendell Berry. He may have written while teaching in New York, but his return to Kentucky is marked as the beginning of his literary career. In one of his essays, Berry speaks of how others tried to dissuade him from that return, fearing that leaving New York would end his career.
Berry’s fictional town of Port William, where his novels and short stories occur, is based on Port Royal, Kentucky, where he lives. His poetry and nonfiction spring from the soil of the working farm where he lives.
Although I am sure Berry knows that some of his books have been electronically published, I am also certain that he has not read them on an electronic device. He does not own a computer. He handwrites his manuscripts which his wife types on a manual typewriter.
As I Look through the books on my shelves, I see many that are place-based. They are the ones I have already read and seem to turn to regularly. For the next few weeks, I will focus the content of my newsletter and blog on place-based writing.
Help Along the Way
Tell it Slant is a lovely resource for writers wanting to explore the creative nonfiction genre. Reading the short chapters, you will gain insights on writing a family history, a memoir, or a travel piece. The authors included other aspects such as nature writing and literary journalism. The chapters end with numerous "try it" exercises to get you writing.
Shameless Self Promotion
My short story, "Life After Writing," won first place in the Chattanooga Writers' Guild's October contest. It takes place right where I live since it is a satire of organized critique groups,
https://chattanoogawritersguild.files...
My article, "Counting Hawks," recently appeared in the online publication, Appalachian Voices. https://appvoices.org/2021/02/26/coun...
Some of this content is drawn from my newsletter, Rayz Reviewz.
December 30, 2020
Adios Barry Lopez
The world was a better place because of you.
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/26/948863...
https://www.npr.org/2020/12/26/948863...
