Nature's Poetry: Images & Ideas

Nature's Poetry is a self-published "senior citizen project." It's an engaging, though none too rigorous, informal compilation of the author's poetry and art. Black and white illustrations appear on almost every page. The nature drawings are snapshots from the author's sketchbooks, some dating back to his Indiana youth and others recording his experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Harar, Ethiopia in the 1960s. Some are photographs of paintings documenting his travels. One section of the small 100 page book is illustrated with the author's hand-made paper pieces, highlighting recycling and the use of natural fiber materials in paper-making. For the most part, the poems are an octogenarian's reflections on his youth in rural Southern Indiana, his eventual encounters with nature abroad, and summer vacations with family on Cape Cod. In some instances, the poems were inspired by his sketches and artwork, others were copied from his old journals and letters and paired with appropriate artwork. Nature, of course, is the theme of the causerie, subdivided into seven parts: place, time and weather, recreation, beauty, creatures, resources, and sketching nature. The collection serves as a reminder of the importance of sketching and journaling in the enhancement of memory. An appropriate sub-title for the book might well be "sketching and memory."