An award-winning poet, a mother, a lover of the land and every creature
in it, as well as a student of zoology, Pattiann Rogers is at home in
the vocabulary of nature. In this work of prose punctuated and
intensified by poetry, Rogers describes the genesis of her most admired
verse and reveals how and why she writes.
Quotes:
“Rogers is a singular voice in American poetry, especially in nature
poetry. Here, in prose and poems, she explores how the natural world
'informs' and 'constructs' her as a human being and as a writer.”—Lori
D. Kranz, Bloomsbury Review (editor's favorite books of 1999)
“When
a poet spills her secrets, that's a special gift.... Rogers seeks to
situate, in plain words, the genesis of her poetry, an experience she
handles with aplomb even while it lays her open.... Much of Rogers'
poetry has fixed on natural history and notions of place, giving praise to
creature and landscape, deciphering how she will act honorably with
them without sermonizing or sanitizing. ”—Kirkus Reviews
“Beautifully written.”—Publishers Weekly
“With
Brown Dog of the Yaak and The Dream of the Marsh Wren, Milkweed's Credo
series is off to a running, highly intriguing, highly worthwhile
start.”—Charles Scheer, Memphis Flyer
“The first two books in
the new Credo series from Milkweed [Editions] articulate some simple
truths about the outdoors and American writing that play brilliantly
off each other. The deaper the writers go into their subjects, the
clearer things become.... In her statement of purpose, poet Pattiann
Rogers says she wants to discover the spiritual attributes of
contemporary cosmology—to make time and geology perceptible to the
heart. From chickpeas through hermit crabs all the way up to the Milky
Way, she visually consumes all of nature.”—Salon Magazine
“Rogers' knowledge of science is unparalleled among contemporary poets.”—Gettysburg Review
“Her descriptions of the natural world are at once rapturous and visionary.”—Orion
“A
trained zoologist, she brings a scientist's eye to her poetry, often
with startlingly beautiful results. As she creates a poem, she says,
the poem also creates her. Rogers' prose flows in and out of the
poems, making the book a gentle primer not only on reading her poetry
but on reading poetry in general.”—Library Journal
“Every
environmentalist also needs the ultimate understanding of poetry. The
work of Rogers illuminates the character, quality, and abiding mystery
of the natural world and our place in it with especially stunning
precision and a use of language that will make you want to sing.”—T.
H. Watkins, Washington Post Book World
“Her work has always appealed to me because she knows so much natural history and knows it with such exuberance.”—Robert Hass
“Profound social consciousness colors Rogers' work . . .”—Eugene Weekly
