The Ecopoetry Anthology

697 Pages·2013·3.134 MB·English

by  Ann Fisher-Wirth (editor), Laura-Gray Street (editor)

Walt Whitman opens this landmark anthology of poems—80 historical A The

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from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century and over 300
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contemporary—by more than 200 writers. c
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“ ‘An ethics occurs at the edge / of what we know,’ writes Brenda hillman, and hp T
you can consider this plump volume an encyclopedia of things worth knowing:
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places, species, but also passions, ideas, rays of light and barrels of poison.
For by ‘environment’ we mean the world of tangible things and a way of lE
thinking systematically: this book deepens your relationship to both those ot
things and is a pleasure besides.” — rebecca Solnit Edited by Ann Fisher-Wirth and Laura-Gray Street
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A. R. Ammons • RAe ARmAntRout • John AshbeRy • Jimmy sAntiAgo bAcA • DAn beAchy-Quick

WenDell beRRy • mei-mei beRssenbRugge • elizAbeth bishop • lAynie bRoWne • loRnA Dee ceRvAntes
lucille clifton • JAck collom • hARt cRAne • Alison hAWthoRne Deming • JAmes Dickey
emily Dickinson • RobeRt DuncAn • cAmille Dungy • lARRy eigneR • t. s. eliot • louise eRDRich
b. h. fAiRchilD • JessicA fisheR • cARolyn foRché • RobeRt fRost • JuAn cARlos gAleAno
JAmes gAlvin • foRRest gAnDeR • c. s. giscombe • louise glück • JoRie gRAhAm • h. D. • Joy hARJo
RobeRt hAss • RobeRt hAyDen • bRenDA hillmAn • JAne hiRshfielD • linDA hogAn • lAngston hughes
Robinson JeffeRs • bRigit pegeen kelly • gAlWAy kinnell • yusef komunyAkAA • Denise leveRtov
lARRy levis • DAvis mccombs • sAnDRA meek • W. s. meRWin • mARiAnne mooRe • loRine nieDeckeR
nAomi shihAb nye • Dg nAnouk okpik • mARy oliveR • chARles olson • geoRge oppen
luciA peRillo • D. A. poWell • kenneth RexRoth • ADRienne Rich • AlbeRto Ríos • eD RobeRson
theoDoRe Roethke • muRiel RukeyseR • iRA sADoff • DeRek sheffielD • evie shockley
JonAthAn skinneR • pAtRiciA smith • gARy snyDeR • JuliAnA spAhR • geRAlD steRn
WAllAce stevens • susAn steWARt • sheRyl st. geRmAin • ARthuR sze • nAthAniel tARn
JeAn toomeR • chAse tWichell • JeAn vAlentine • eliot WeinbeRgeR • WAlt WhitmAn
c. k. WilliAms • WilliAm cARlos WilliAms • c. D. WRight • chARles WRight • RobeRt WRigley
FiSher-Wirth “ A necessary book, a radical
and Street intervention, a daring collection of
human calls and cries which respond
$24.95 | poetry | nature  to our endangered and disappearing world.”
— edward HirScH
trinity UniverSity PreSS San Antonio, tX | www.tupress.org trinity IntroductIon by r obert hASS
Praise for The Ecopoetry Anthology
“The Ecopoetry Anthology is a necessary book, a radical intervention,
a daring collection of human calls and cries which respond to our
endangered and disappearing world.”
—Edward HirscH
“ ‘An ethics occurs at the edge / of what we know,’ writes Brenda Hillman,
and you can consider this plump volume an encyclopedia of things worth
knowing: places, species, but also passions, ideas, rays of light and barrels
of poison. For by ‘environment’ we mean the world of tangible things and
a way of thinking systematically: this book deepens your relationship to
both those things and is a pleasure besides.”
—rEbEcca solnit
“Cutting a broad swathe from ‘the natural history of tears’ to ‘surreal /
popcorn, surrounded by the reborn,’ with unerring ears and curatorial
finesse the editors have assembled a genuine constellation of feisty, testy,
funny, worried, disconcerted, perplexed, grieving, and roaring poems.”
—JEd r asula
“This varied and generous anthology is a crash course in anglophone,
North American ecopoetry, ideal as a textbook, even better as a
springboard for reflection. The critic and translator John Felstiner
has asked, ‘Can poetry save the Earth?’ While reading The Ecopoetry
Anthology, one begins to think it possible.”
—scott slovic
“We surely need anthologies of nature poetry, so this new one featuring
a historical section is doubly heartening. Whitman and Dickinson, Frost
and Williams, Jeffers and Moore and Bishop seldom find that position
these days. Then a uniquely generous contemporary section, fully
covering the country—and alphabet, except for X-Y-Z. Acquire this
book, absorb what you like, read it to friends and family!”
—JoHn FElstinEr
Trinity University Press gratefully acknowledges the support of
tHE cHarlEs and r obErta Katz Family Foundation,
tHE Edouard Foundation,
and
tHE saraH E. HartE and JoHn s. GutzlEr Fund
oF tHE s an antonio arEa Foundation
in the publication of this book
the
e c o p o e t ry
anthology
EditEd by
Ann Fisher-Wirth and
Laura-Gray Street
Introduction by Robert Hass
trinity univErsity PrEss
San Antonio, Texas
Published by Trinity University Press
San Antonio, Texas 78212
Copyright © 2013 by Ann Fisher-Wirth and Laura-Gray Street
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or
by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and
retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Cover design by Nicole Hayward
Book design by BookMatters, Berkeley
Jacket illustration: Sea road, by Piotr Krol (Bax), 2011, http://bax.wroclaw.pl/

Trinity University Press strives to produce its books using methods and
materials in an environmentally sensitive manner. We favor working with
manufacturers that practice sustainable management of all natural resources,
produce paper using recycled stock, and manage forests with the best possible
practices for people, biodiversity, and sustainability. The press is a member of
the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit program dedicated to supporting pub-
lishers in their efforts to reduce their impacts on endangered forests, climate
change, and forest-dependent communities.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper

for Printed Library Materials, ansi 39.48–1992.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The Ecopoetry Anthology / Edited by Ann Fisher-Wirth and Laura-Gray
Street ; Introduction by Rober Hass.
p. cm.
Summary: “An anthology of American poetry about nature and the environ-
ment, divided into a historical section with poetry written from roughly the
mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century and a contemporary section
with over 300 poems written since 1960 by a diverse group of more than
170 poets. Introduction by Robert Hass”—Provided by pubisher. Includes
bibliographical references.
isbn 978-1-59534-146-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn 978-1-59534-145-7 (e-book)
1. American poetry. 2. Nature in literature. 3.Ecology in literature.

I. Fisher-Wirth, Ann W., editor of compilation. II. Street, Laura-Gray,
editor of compilation.
Ps595.n22E27 2013
811.008'036—dc23 2012040477
17 16 15 14 13 5 4 3 2 1
For my grandchildren
Sylvie Benjamin Eve Dylan Rowan
And for all the children
They step into the world we have made
A. F. W.
For Kyle and Sydna
L. G. S.

contEnts
Editors’ Preface  •  xxvii
A Scattering, a Shining, by Ann Fisher-Wirth  •  xxxiii
The Roots of It, by Laura-Gray Street  •  xxxvoo
American Ecopoetry: An Introduction, by Robert Hass  •  xli
Historical
Walt Whitman
from Song of Myself  •  3
Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking  •  4
Crossing Brooklyn Ferry  •  10
Emily Dickinson
#116/328  •  16
#126/348  •  16
#184/465  •  17
#209/520  •  18
#498/1400  •  19
#537/1593  •  19
Robert Frost
An Old Man’s Winter Night  •  21
The Need of Being Versed in Country Things  •  22
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening  •  23
Spring Pools  •  23
Design  •  24
The Most of It  •  24
Directive  •  25
Wallace Stevens
Sunday Morning  •  27
Anecdote of the Jar  •  31
The Snow Man  •  31
The River of Rivers in Connecticut  •  32
William Carlos Williams
Spring and All  •  33
The Sea-Elephant  •  34
Between Walls  •  36
Raleigh Was Right  •  36
The High Bridge above the Tagus River at Toledo  •  37
Ezra Pound
The Tree  •  38
Salutation  •  38
Ancient Music  •  39
from Canto LXXXI  •  39
H.D.
Oread  •  40
Sea Iris  •  40
The Pool  •  41
Robinson Jeffers
Shine, Perishing Republic  •  42
Hurt Hawks  •  43
The Purse-Seine  •  44
Carmel Point  •  45
The Deer Lay Down Their Bones  •  46
vi
Marianne Moore
The Fish  •  48
A Grave  •  49
The Paper Nautilus  •  50
T. S. Eliot
from The Waste Land
I. The Burial of the Dead  •  52
III. The Fire Sermon  •  54
e. e. cummings
Me up at does  •  58
Jean Toomer
Reapers  •  59
November Cotton Flower  •  59
Stephen Vincent Benét
Metropolitan Nightmare  •  60
Hart Crane
Repose of Rivers  •  63
from The Bridge
To Brooklyn Bridge  •  64
The River  •  65
Sterling A. Brown
Riverbank Blues  •  70
Langston Hughes
The Negro Speaks of Rivers  •  72
Daybreak in Alabama  •  72
Lorine Niedecker
(untitled)  •  74
from Paean to Place  •  74
Kenneth Rexroth
Toward an Organic Philosophy  •  78
Lute Music  •  81
vii