Sisters of the Earth: Women's Prose and Poetry About Nature
Sisters of the Earth is a stirring collection of women’s writing on nature: Nature as healer. Nature as delight. Nature as mother and sister. Nature as victim. Nature as companion and reminder of what is wild in us all. Here, among more than a hundred poets and prose writers, are Diane Ackerman on the opium of sunsets; Ursula K. Le Guin envisioning an alternative world in which human beings are not estranged from their planet; and Julia Butterfly Hill on weathering a fierce storm in the...
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Sisters of the Earth is a stirring collection of women’s writing on nature: Nature as healer. Nature as delight. Nature as mother and sister. Nature as victim. Nature as companion and reminder of what is wild in us all. Here, among more than a hundred poets and prose writers, are Diane Ackerman on the opium of sunsets; Ursula K. Le Guin envisioning an alternative world in which human beings are not estranged from their planet; and Julia Butterfly Hill on weathering a fierce storm in the redwood tree where she lived for more than two years. Here, too, are poems, essays, stories, and journal entries by Emily Dickinson, Alice Walker, Terry Tempest Williams, Willa Cather, Gretel Erlich, Adrienne Rich, and others—each offering a vivid, eloquent response to the natural world.This second edition of Sisters of the Earth is fully revised and updated with a new preface and nearly fifty new pieces, including new contributions by Louise Erdrich, Pam Houston, Zora Neale Hurston, Starhawk, Joy Williams, Kathleen Norris, Rita Dove, and Barbara Kingsolver.Publishers WeeklyThe voices of nearly 100 women--white, black, Native American--sing out in this luminous anthology, which spans centuries, genres and literary careers from Willa Cather's to Sue Hubbell's. The thread that binds together the poetry, short stories and essays collected here is the harmonious relationship between women and nature that is about ``caring rather than controlling,'' as editor Anderson indicates. In her poem ``My Help Is in the Mountainsic ,'' Nancy Wood ( Hollering Sun ) becomes part of the sun-warmed rock that soothes her ``earthly wounds.'' In a prose reflection, ``The Miracle of Renewal,'' Laura Lee Davidson is rejuvenated by a year spent in the Canadian woods in 1914, which provided her with a ``gallery of mind-pictures.'' Both Linda Hogan's essay, ``Walking,'' and Elizabeth Coatsworth's poem, ``On the Hills,'' seek and find continuity in nature, as well as a kinship with the other times and places that is evoked by it. Taste and sensitivity are evident throughout the volume, whether tacit as nocturnal solitude or vocal as a feline ``howl . . . for the flame of yellow moons'' in Judith Minty's poem, ``Why Do You Keep Those Cats?'' Anderson is a freelance writer and editor. QPB selection. (Apr.)
Preface to the Second EditionPreface to the First EditionFire3Beginning with a Place4The Joy-Song of Nature7The First Roots Creep Up10Blossoming Pear Tree12Breaklight14Believing the Bond15Luna19The South Corner22A White Heron23Being Still36Home to the Wilderness37The Magnolia Tree45A Breeze Swept Through48The Many and the One50I Will Lie Down52Rolling Naked in the Morning Dew57A Rinse in the River59Sandstone Seduction62River, O River65Christmas in Driftwood Valley66Jaunt from Nulato71Visual Opium74Why?77Spring in the City78Childhood on White Island84Green Thoughts in a Green Shade88My Mississippi Spring90A Bouquet of Wild Flowers91Glimpses of Salem94On the Hills98Trek to Blue Lake99Night in the Country104Love Poem108Why Do You Keep Those Cats?113Gabimichigami114Looking for Abbey's Lion117The Recognition121The Source of a River123Wilderness in the Blood127Annunciation129A Different Sympathy142Night Song144Becoming Feral146The Safety Behind Me150In the Open151The Feel of the Outdoors153In a Valley of Peace160The Angry Lunch Cafe161The Storm166The Old One and the Wind169My Help Is in the Mountain and Earth Cure Me173The Ancient People174Journal Entries186Daystar191The Bowl193Lesson 1 and Lesson 2197State of Grace198Cured by Flowers201Meadow Turf205The Nature Cure - For the Body206Longing210The Balsam Fir212The Back-Road222My Desert Pond224The Miracle of Renewal228Depression in Winter231Come into Animal Presence235The Heart's Fox236Happiness242Sudden Knowing244The Word246To Build a Dam249Two Creatures of the Long-Shadowed Forest252The Fawn258Feathered Philosophers259A Sadness262A Little Nomad264A Wonder Tale270Drama on a Wooden Fence280Houseguest283Dance of Giants288Changing294Among My Closet Friends295The Old Cherry Tree300In Praise of Trees310The Man315The Last Antelope317The Hunt and Use327Audubon332Who?334Earth's Green Mantle336Bonelight342Love Canal346The Alegria Canyon and Afterword350When Earth becomes an "It"358The Hewers of Wood359Fallen Forests365Bitter Root Rituals, Stanzas I, II, and III368Clearcut371Contradictions: Tracking Poems, Part 18374Spirit of Love379Turning to Another Way380Eve Revisited384The Rainbow Bridge386Kopis'taya (A Gathering of Spirits)392Declaration of the Four Sacred Things394Native Origin396The Common Living Dirt400What Holds the Water, What Holds the Light403Amazing Grace408Dynamics414End of the Beginning416Mind in the Waters423May's Lion425Demeter435Acknowledgments437Bibliography and Further Reading439Index of Authors and Titles457
\ Publishers Weekly\ - Publisher's Weekly\ The voices of nearly 100 women--white, black, Native American--sing out in this luminous anthology, which spans centuries, genres and literary careers from Willa Cather's to Sue Hubbell's. The thread that binds together the poetry, short stories and essays collected here is the harmonious relationship between women and nature that is about ``caring rather than controlling,'' as editor Anderson indicates. In her poem ``My Help Is in the Mountainsic ,'' Nancy Wood ( Hollering Sun ) becomes part of the sun-warmed rock that soothes her ``earthly wounds.'' In a prose reflection, ``The Miracle of Renewal,'' Laura Lee Davidson is rejuvenated by a year spent in the Canadian woods in 1914, which provided her with a ``gallery of mind-pictures.'' Both Linda Hogan's essay, ``Walking,'' and Elizabeth Coatsworth's poem, ``On the Hills,'' seek and find continuity in nature, as well as a kinship with the other times and places that is evoked by it. Taste and sensitivity are evident throughout the volume, whether tacit as nocturnal solitude or vocal as a feline ``howl . . . for the flame of yellow moons'' in Judith Minty's poem, ``Why Do You Keep Those Cats?'' Anderson is a freelance writer and editor. QPB selection. (Apr.)\ \
