I recently discovered the poem by Wendell Berry, The Peace of Wild Things. It inspired me to put together a list of other books of nature poetry that we might enjoy as the nights get longer and darker. Scroll down to see a selection of children's picture/poetry books as well.
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
The world-ending fire : the essential Wendell Berry
Berry, Wendell, 1934- author.
814.54 /Berry
A collection of essays celebrating the cultural heritage of history and home argues that arrogance must be adandoned in favor of respect and care for oneself, one's neighbors, and the land.
Earth keeper : reflections on the American land
Momaday, N. Scott, 1934- author.
814.54 /Momaday
"In Earth Keeper: Reflections on an American Land, Momaday reflects on his native ground and its influence on his people. "When I think about my life and the lives of my ancestors, I am inevitably led to the conviction that I, and they, belong to the American land. This is a declaration of belonging. And it is an offering to the earth." he writes. Earth Keeper is a story of attachment, rooted in oral tradition. Momaday recalls stories of his childhood that have been passed down through generations, stories that reveal a profound and sacred connection to the American landscape and a reverence for the natural world. In this moving work, he offers an homage and a warning. Momaday reminds us that the Earth is a sacred place of wonder and beauty; a source of strength and healing that must be protected before it's too late. As he so eloquently yet simply reminds us, we must all be keepers of the Earth"--
Upstream : selected essays
Oliver, Mary, 1935- author.
814.54 /Oliver
"'In the beginning I was so young and such a stranger to myself I hardly existed. I had to go out into the world and see it and hear it and react to it, before I knew at all who I was, what I was, what I wanted to be.' So begins Upstream, a collection of essays in which beloved poet Mary Oliver reflects on her willingness, as a young child and as an adult, to lose herself within the beauty and mysteries of both the natural world and the world of literature. Emphasizing the significance of her childhood 'friend' Walt Whitman, through whose work she first understood that a poem is a temple, 'a place to enter, and in which to feel,' and who encouraged her to vanish into the world of her writing, Oliver meditates on the forces that allowed her to create a life for herself out of work and love. As she writes, 'I could not be a poet without the natural world. Someone else could. But not me. For me the door to the woods is the door to the temple.' Upstream follows Oliver as she contemplates the pleasure of artistic labor, her boundless curiosity for the flora and fauna that surround her, and the responsibility she has inherited from Shelley, Wordsworth, Emerson, Poe, and Frost, the great thinkers and writers of the past, to live thoughtfully, intelligently, and to observe with passion. Throughout this collection, Oliver positions not just herself upstream but us as well as she encourages us all to keep moving, to lose ourselves in the awe of the unknown, and to give power and time to the creative and whimsical urges that live within us"--
The lost words : a spell book
Macfarlane, Robert, 1976- author.
821.92 /Macfarlane
"All over the country, there are words disappearing from children's lives. These are the words of the natural world--dandelion, otter, bramble and acorn, all gone. The rich landscape of wild imagination and wild play is rapidly fading from our children's minds. The Lost Words stands against the disappearance of wild childhood. It is a joyful celebration of nature words and the natural world they invoke. With acrostic spell-poems by award-winning writer Robert Macfarlane and hand-painted illustration by Jackie Morris, this enchanting book captures the irreplaceable magic of language and nature for all ages."--
In 2007 a new edition of The Oxford Junior Dictionary was released. In this edition, technology-based vocabulary replaced nature and outdoors-related terms. Terms such as "blog" and "broadband" were included, while "bramble," "otter," and "willow" were left out. This book attempts to share and preserve some of these words and their essential themes.
- Bond
The Ecopoetry anthology
811.008 /Ecopoetry
"An anthology of American poetry about nature and the environment, 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 publisher.
Threat come close
Coleman, Aaron, author.
811.6 /Coleman
In his debut collection, Aaron Coleman writes an American anthem for the 21st century, a full-throated lyric composed of pain, faith, lust and vulnerability. Coleman's poems comment on and interrogate the meaning of home and identity for a black man in America, past and present. Guided by a belief system comprising an eclectic array of invented saints--Trigger, Seducation, Doubt and Who--Coleman's quest locates new ways of being in the natural world where "[t]he trees teach me how to break and keep on living."
Weaving sundown in a scarlet light : fifty poems for fifty years
Harjo, Joy, author.
811.54 /Harjo
A magnificent selection of fifty poems to celebrate three-term US Poet Laureate Joy Harjo's fifty years as a poet.
100 essential American poems
811.008 /One Hundred
"This compilation of great American poetry contains some of the most fondly remembered works of all time. Representing the earliest days of the Nation through the golden age of the 19th century and up to the present day, this classic collection also includes the lyrics of canonical songs, from "The Star-Spangled Banner" to "This Land is Your Land." Each poet's work is preceded by an introduction."--From publisher description.
The lost spells
Macfarlane, Robert, 1976- author.
821.92 /Macfarlane
"Since its publication in 2017, The Lost Words has enchanted readers with its poetry and illustrations of the natural world. Now, The Lost Spells, a book kindred in spirit and tone, continues to re-wild the lives of children and adults. The Lost Spells evokes the wonder of everyday nature, conjuring up red foxes, birch trees, jackdaws, and more in poems and illustrations that flow between the pages and into readers' minds. Robert Macfarlane's spell-poems and Jackie Morris's watercolor illustrations are musical and magical: these are summoning spells, words of recollection, charms of protection. To read The Lost Spells is to see anew the natural world within our grasp and to be reminded of what happens when we allow it to slip away."--
Wild belief : poets and prophets in the wilderness
Ripatrazone, Nicholas, author.
809.9336 /Ripatrazone
Wild Belief brings together a diverse and unique set of writers who span literary styles, genres, and time periods--but who are united in their search for spirit in the wild. Through them we discover the tension between our understanding of the wilderness as both a fearful and a sacred space, which makes it particularly apt for capturing the unknown and surprising elements of belief.
So far so good : final poems: 2014-2018
Le Guin, Ursula K., 1929-2018, author.
811.54 /Le Guin
"Award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin was lauded by millions for her groundbreaking science fiction and fantasy novels, though she began her career as a poet. "I still kind of twitch and growl when I'm reduced to being the science fiction writer. I'm a novelist and increasingly a poet. And sometimes I wish they'd call me that," Le Guin said in a 2015 interview with NPR. In this clarifying and sublime collection--written shortly before her death in 2018--Le Guin immerses herself in the natural world, ruminating on the mysteries of dying, and considering the simple, redemptive lessons of the earth" --
Bestiary dark
Boruch, Marianne, 1950- author.
811.54 /Boruch
"Written following Marianne Boruch's 2019 Fulbright in Australia, and on the heels of the devastating fires that began after her departure, Bestiary Dark is filled with strange and sweet details, beauty, and impending doom-the drought, fires, and floods that have grown unspeakable in scale. These poems face the ancient, unsettling relationship of humans and the natural world-the looming effect we've wrought on wildlife-and what solace and repair our learning even a little might mean"--
Nature poem
Pico, Tommy, author.
811.6 /Pico
"Nature Poem follows Teebs--a young, queer, American Indian (or NDN) poet--who can't bring himself to write a nature poem. For the reservation-born, urban-dwelling hipster, the exercise feels stereotypical, reductive, and boring. He hates nature. He prefers city lights to the night sky. He'd slap a tree across the face. He'd rather write a mountain of hashtag punchlines about death and give head in a pizza-parlor bathroom; he'd rather write odes to Aretha Franklin and Hole. While he's adamant--bratty, even--about his distaste for the word "natural," over the course of the book we see him confronting the assimilationist, historical, colonial-white ideas that collude NDN people with nature. The closer his people were identified with the "natural world," he figures, the easier it was to mow them down like the underbrush. But Teebs gradually learns how to interpret constellations through his own lens, along with human nature, sexuality, language, music, and Twitter. Even while he reckons with manifest destiny and genocide and centuries of disenfranchisement, he learns how to have faith in his own voice."--Amazon.com.
How to fly (in ten thousand easy lessons) : poetry
Kingsolver, Barbara, author.
811.54 /Kingsolver
In her second poetry collection, Barbara Kingsolver offers reflections on the practical, the spiritual, and the wild. She begins with "how to" poems addressing everyday matters such as being hopeful, married, divorced; shearing a sheep; praying to unreliable gods; doing nothing at all; and of course, flying. Next come rafts of poems about making peace (or not) with the complicated bonds of friendship and family, and making peace (or not) with death, in the many ways it finds us. Some poems reflect on the redemptive powers of art and poetry itself; others consider where everything begins. Closing the book are poems that celebrate natural wonders--birdsong and ghost-flowers, ruthless ants, clever shellfish, coral reefs, deadly deserts, and thousand-year-old beech trees--all speaking to the daring project of belonging to an untamed world beyond ourselves.
The tree that time built : a celebration of nature, science, and imagination
j808.81936 Hoberman
An anthology of more than 100 poems celebrating the wonders of the natural world and encouraging environmental awareness. Includes an audio CD that comprises readings of 44 of the poems, many performed by the poets themselves.
When the sun shines on Antarctica : and other poems about the frozen continent
Latham, Irene.
jE Latham
This poetry collection takes readers to the bottom of the world to experience summer as they've never seen it before. Each poem is accompanied by additional facts and illustrations.
Trees
Hutchens, Verlie, author.
j811 Hutchens
"There are so many different kinds of trees in the world, and each has special qualities that make it unique. This lyrical, fanciful collection of poems celebrates the singular beauty of each tree, from the gnarled old apple tree to the tall and graceful aspen" --
Marshmallow clouds : two poets at play among figures of speech
Kooser, Ted, author.
j811 Kooser
"Celebrated poets Ted Kooser along with Connie Wanek, and illustrator Richard Jones, explore figures of speech in a spirited and magical way--and invite our imaginations out to play."--From publisher description.
One leaf rides the wind : counting in a Japanese garden
Mannis, Celeste Davidson.
jE Mannis
In this collection of haiku poems, a young girl walks through a Japanese garden and discovers many delights, from one leaf to ten stone lanterns. Includes notes about Japanese religion and philosophy.
Behold our magical garden : poems fresh from a school garden
Wolf, Allan, author.
j811 Wolf
"There's a lot more to gardens than meets the eye! In this collection of buoyant poems filled with fun facts, young nature enthusiasts and budding gardeners are called on to help solve a mystery by the compost bin, join a Wild West-style standoff between some good bugs and a few bad ones, interview the sun to find out what happens when it drinks a glass of water, and learn the fancy names of plants to spice up dinner conversation." -- Amazon.com.
The wisdom of trees : how trees work together to form a natural kingdom
Judge, Lita, author, illustrator.
j582.16 Judge
"A lyrical and informational nonfiction picture book that tells the story of trees and the hidden ecosystems they create"--
If you've never read Mary Oliver, you're in for a treat. Her work is a gateway to all the wonders of the natural world.
- Bond