Field Work: Modern Poems from Eastern Forests

by Erik Reece (Editor)

While writing his book, Lost A Year in the Vanishing Wilderness, Erik Reece spent a great deal of time studying strip mining and its effect on the environment and surrounding communities. After a year of exploring the ugliness of a rapidly disappearing landscape, Reece felt a strong need to celebrate the wonder the Eastern broadleaf forests still have to offer. The result is a collection of poems by individuals who share Thoreau's belief that the natural world is "an unroofed church, a place of reverence." Field Modern Poems from Eastern Forests seeks an answer to Frost's question, "What to make of a diminished thing?" by contemplating work from some of the twentieth century's greatest nature poets. Reece frames contemporary American poems with a rich selection of Chinese poetry from the T'ang Dynasty, written by poets who produced what many consider the first great nature writing. More than 1,300 years ago Li Po, Tu Fu, Wang Wei, and Han Shan described a landscape in southern China remarkably similar in landscape and ecology to the forests of Appalachia. Consequently, their work has inspired many of the American poets featured in Field Work, including Hayden Carruth, Mary Oliver, A. R. Ammons, Jane Kenyon, and Denise Levertov. The modern poets in this collection share the eastern reverence for the natural world― they desire to create a poetry of belonging, of elemental contact with something much larger than the self. These poems ask the reader to turn away from urban landscapes in an effort to better understand the natural world as a spectacular, profound organism. Wendell Berry, for example, praises the quiet and solitude of nature, inspiring the reader to experience each poem in the setting for which it was written. In Field Work, Reece brings together a collection of poetry that calls readers out of doors as these poems become gateways to a natural world we are often too distracted to see.

Genres: Poetry

152 pages, Hardcover

First published April 18, 2008

Reviews

[Ami Lea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an anthology of Appalachian and Chinese poetry. Style and form vary, but this work primarily consists of short lyric poetry, haikus, and a couple of longer narrative poems. These center on a common nature theme, but most are augmented by the use of metaphor - making them both beautiful and thoughtworthy. I enjoyed this little poetry book. The poems by environmental activist and American novelist, Wendell Berry, were the highlight of the collection. Berry writes about nature in a way that renders it accessible, while inviting the reader to think about how they perceive their ever-changing world. There are obvious Buddhist and spiritual elements present in many of the poems in this collection - especially those written by Charles Wright and Mary Oliver - that contribute to the overall feeling and character of the work. There is also a Romantic Period influence present in several of the submissions, reminiscent of the works by Shelley, Wordsworth, and Keats.
There are a couple of issues with the format of this book, and the layout was not ideal. The pages were compiled in a way that made it difficult to discern where a poem ends. At times, the pages ran together, making it seem as if two poems were one long piece or vice-versa. The name of the author of each work was not always placed conspicuously with the poem itself, which I found a little insensitive. Overall, though, this is a great read and a nice way to spend a morning.