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The Wild in You: Voices from the Forest and the Sea
A testament to the miraculous beings that share our planet and the places that they live, The Wild in You is a deeply-felt creative collaboration between one of our time’s best nature photographers and a very talented and creative poet. Inspired by the majestic and savage beauty of Ian McAllister’s photographs, Lorna Crozier translates the wild emotion of these images into the language of the human poetry. Featuring over 30 beautiful full-size photographs of wolves, bears, sea lions, jellyfish, and other wild creatures paired with 30 original poems, The Wild in You challenges the reader to a deeper understanding of the connection between humans, animals, and our shared earth.
Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute
Published in Partnership with the David Suzuki Institute
- GenresPoetryCanadaPhotography
80 pages, Hardcover
First published September 8, 2015
1 person is currently reading
87 people want to read
About the author
Lorna Crozier
56 books85 followersLorna Crozier was born in 1948 in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. As a child growing up in a prairie community where the local heroes were hockey players and curlers, she “never once thought of being a writer.” After university, Lorna went on to teach high school English and work as a guidance counsellor. During these years, Lorna published her first poem in Grain magazine, a publication that turned her life toward writing. Her first collection Inside in the Sky was published in 1976. Since then, she has authored 14 books of poetry, including The Garden Going on Without Us, Angels of Flesh, Angels of Silence, Inventing the Hawk, winner of the 1992 Governor-General’s Award, Everything Arrives at the Light, Apocrypha of Light, What the Living Won’t Let Go, and most recently Whetstone. Whether Lorna is writing about angels, aging, or Louis Armstrong’s trout sandwich, she continues to engage readers and writers across Canada and the world with her grace, wisdom and wit. She is, as Margaret Laurence wrote, “a poet to be grateful for.”
Since the beginning of her writing career, Lorna has been known for her inspired teaching and mentoring of other poets. In 1980 Lorna was the writer-in-residence at the Cypress Hills Community College in Swift Current; in 1983, at the Regina Public Library; and in 1989 at the University of Toronto. She has held short-term residencies at the Universities of Toronto and Lethbridge and at Douglas College. Presently she lives near Victoria, where she teaches and serves as Chair in the Writing Department at the University.
Beyond making poems, Lorna has also edited two non-fiction collections – Desire in Seven Voices and Addiction: Notes from the Belly of the Beast. Together with her husband and fellow poet Patrick Lane, she edited the 1994 landmark collection Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poets; in 2004, they co-edited Breathing Fire 2, once again introducing over thirty new writers to the Canadian literary world.
Her poems continue to be widely anthologized, appearing in 15 Canadian Poets X 3, 20th Century Poetry and Poetics, Poetry International and most recently in Open Field: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poets, a collection designed for American readers.
Her reputation as a generous and inspiring artist extends from her passion for the craft of poetry to her teaching and through to her involvement in various social causes. In addition to leading poetry workshops across the globe, Lorna has given benefit readings for numerous organizations such as the SPCA, the BC Land Conservancy, the Victoria READ Society, and PEERS, a group committed to helping prostitutes get off the street. She has been a frequent guest on CBC radio where she once worked as a reviewer and arts show host. Wherever she reads she raises the profile and reputation of poetry.
Since the beginning of her writing career, Lorna has been known for her inspired teaching and mentoring of other poets. In 1980 Lorna was the writer-in-residence at the Cypress Hills Community College in Swift Current; in 1983, at the Regina Public Library; and in 1989 at the University of Toronto. She has held short-term residencies at the Universities of Toronto and Lethbridge and at Douglas College. Presently she lives near Victoria, where she teaches and serves as Chair in the Writing Department at the University.
Beyond making poems, Lorna has also edited two non-fiction collections – Desire in Seven Voices and Addiction: Notes from the Belly of the Beast. Together with her husband and fellow poet Patrick Lane, she edited the 1994 landmark collection Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poets; in 2004, they co-edited Breathing Fire 2, once again introducing over thirty new writers to the Canadian literary world.
Her poems continue to be widely anthologized, appearing in 15 Canadian Poets X 3, 20th Century Poetry and Poetics, Poetry International and most recently in Open Field: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poets, a collection designed for American readers.
Her reputation as a generous and inspiring artist extends from her passion for the craft of poetry to her teaching and through to her involvement in various social causes. In addition to leading poetry workshops across the globe, Lorna has given benefit readings for numerous organizations such as the SPCA, the BC Land Conservancy, the Victoria READ Society, and PEERS, a group committed to helping prostitutes get off the street. She has been a frequent guest on CBC radio where she once worked as a reviewer and arts show host. Wherever she reads she raises the profile and reputation of poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 12, 2016
When I heard Lorna Crozier interviewed about this book on CBC, I knew I had to read it. She gave voice to the wild in a way that has resonated for me from childhood onward. She spoke of her collaboration with the incredibly talented photographer, Ian McAllister, her struggle to find the right words to honour his photographs and the life they presented. She read from the book and hooked me.
Last night I sat down with the slim book and read it in one thirty-minute gulp. Then I went back, looked deeply at each photograph, and slowly re-read the accompanying poems. The book bypassed my critical faculties when I read it the first time. The second time, with a more slow and careful perusal, I loved the book for its visual and verbal poetry. McAllister's photographs are homage to the wild world. Each one bears messages for anyone open to receive them. Crozier's words are a gritty, earthy, heart-open accompaniment, like adding chords to a haunting melody. The collaboration is sheer magic.
Our human hubris has separated us from the planet that offers a dizzying array of gifts. All the earth asks is that we respond with awareness and love. This book reminds us we are not separate from the wild. It is in each of us. When we grasp that, we cannot help but treat it with reverence.
That is a message that goes straight to my heart. As a child, every tree called out to me. Dogs stopped me to visit. Playing in mud was not a means of making fake pies for me. It was a way of connecting with the life I sensed was in the wet, slippery soil. That has never changed. I recently wrote Cloud Talk after being urged for years to put my photographs and their accompanying small stories into books.
I hear the voices, whether I am sitting with a book as stunning as this one or walking in the marsh outside my home. McAllister and Crozier hear them too and invite us to be still, to listen, to understand our place among our wild neighbours.
Share this book with friends, family, anyone open to the environment around them - and anyone whose heart might soften if they listened to the voices of the wild.
Last night I sat down with the slim book and read it in one thirty-minute gulp. Then I went back, looked deeply at each photograph, and slowly re-read the accompanying poems. The book bypassed my critical faculties when I read it the first time. The second time, with a more slow and careful perusal, I loved the book for its visual and verbal poetry. McAllister's photographs are homage to the wild world. Each one bears messages for anyone open to receive them. Crozier's words are a gritty, earthy, heart-open accompaniment, like adding chords to a haunting melody. The collaboration is sheer magic.
Our human hubris has separated us from the planet that offers a dizzying array of gifts. All the earth asks is that we respond with awareness and love. This book reminds us we are not separate from the wild. It is in each of us. When we grasp that, we cannot help but treat it with reverence.
That is a message that goes straight to my heart. As a child, every tree called out to me. Dogs stopped me to visit. Playing in mud was not a means of making fake pies for me. It was a way of connecting with the life I sensed was in the wet, slippery soil. That has never changed. I recently wrote Cloud Talk after being urged for years to put my photographs and their accompanying small stories into books.
I hear the voices, whether I am sitting with a book as stunning as this one or walking in the marsh outside my home. McAllister and Crozier hear them too and invite us to be still, to listen, to understand our place among our wild neighbours.
Share this book with friends, family, anyone open to the environment around them - and anyone whose heart might soften if they listened to the voices of the wild.
February 3, 2018
This is an evocative and beautiful book. The poems and the photographs are each lovely on their own but when I read/look at each set of poem and photograph together, they became amazing. This is a wonderful exploration and paean to the Great Bear Rainforest on the West Coast of Canada, an area of stunning beauty that's full of life.
My favourite poems included 'Genesis: Rainforest' with it's fabulous first lines - God as Grizzly
created salmon first, five kinds - and 'Raven's Advice to Humans' with the spare alliteration about the porpoise's purpose that reminded me of a haiku.
The photographs of the animals were my favourites. Although I appreciated the underwater photography, especially the hidden stone face, I loved how Ian McAllister captured the expressions and range of emotions from the bears and wolves.
This is well worth reading, even if you're not a big fan of poetry.
My favourite poems included 'Genesis: Rainforest' with it's fabulous first lines - God as Grizzly
created salmon first, five kinds - and 'Raven's Advice to Humans' with the spare alliteration about the porpoise's purpose that reminded me of a haiku.
The photographs of the animals were my favourites. Although I appreciated the underwater photography, especially the hidden stone face, I loved how Ian McAllister captured the expressions and range of emotions from the bears and wolves.
This is well worth reading, even if you're not a big fan of poetry.
December 19, 2017
In this gorgeous volume, LC and IMcA have teamed up to give us their vision of the quintessential Canadian experience. Even if sometimes I could not discern the connection between the stunning photograph and the acuity of the text,I always felt my appreciation enhanced by the study.
What a strange thing you become
When you spend all this time alone,
Watching. ...
Some days it is focused on a star
thats beeen dead a million years.
You've waited as if time were just another
kind of light.
p65 opposite magnificent wolves
What a strange thing you become
When you spend all this time alone,
Watching. ...
Some days it is focused on a star
thats beeen dead a million years.
You've waited as if time were just another
kind of light.
p65 opposite magnificent wolves
August 20, 2016
Eloquent poetry with beautiful photography. Each poem only enhances each image and vice versa.
February 21, 2017
The stunning photographs of Ian McAllister belong with Lorna Crozier`s beautiful, poignant poems. The perfect marriage and a hymn to our astonishing natural world.
May 4, 2017
I’m very glad I read this book. I loved this book of poetry. It is also an awesome book of photographs. Each photograph has an accompanying poem. The poets use of language, metaphor and image allow the photograph and the words to dance with each other across the page.
November 26, 2017
The magic is in the photographs.
September 30, 2018
Wow. Stunning. Breathtaking. Just, read this.
February 13, 2019
Review of this stunning volume of poetry inspired by encounters with the natural world and photographs coming soon 😊
December 16, 2019
I love the idea of pairing photography with poetry - although I felt for the most part the photographs were stronger than the poetry.
April 21, 2020
My first attempt at intentionally reading poetry!
December 23, 2022
I love Lorna's poetry. This is a beautiful book as she writes poems to go along with wildlife photography.
December 21, 2023
Beautiful! A poem for each beautiful photograph of nature.
Read
February 6, 2025"There are days when you blind yourself
with too much longing."
- 'Photographer'
with too much longing."
- 'Photographer'
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 17, 2016
Breathtaking and intriguing photos, even though I have read/viewed Ian McAllister's books from BC's temperate rain forest and west coast. The book is a result of poet Lorna Crozier's trip with McAllister, and then crafting poems triggered by that adventure and the photos he sent her. Lovely book, although it is a polemic, mildly expressed as it is through most of the poems. I do appreciate her central idea of the precious role of "The Wild", which can allow us to appreciate some of 'the wild' within us as mammals and fellow animals.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews