All Things Touched by Wind

"Walking to my camp through trees / I swing my flashlight up / and a screech owl's yellow eyes / face mine." I've chosen these lines as representative of John Daniel's poetic project because they capture the heart-stopping expectation to be found in encountering nature. Kindred spirit to Gary Snyder and Wendell Berry (who counts himself a fan), Daniel writes beautifully of red cedars, canyon walls flooded with moonlight, friendship, the "bare glory of what's given" ("The Unseen").