“Why does ‘the land’ have to give something back to the writer? Why do we need to imagine, manufacture, or ‘experience’ some kind of bridge between self and ‘wild’ to give purpose to writing the land?” p.vii
“As globalization draws us together and industrialization and human population pressures take their toll on natural habitats, as species of plants and animals flicker and are snuffed from the earth, it may be worthwhile to ask whether an ethnocentric view of human beings as a species independent from others underpins our exploitation of natural resources and sets into motion dire consequences.” p.1
“There are, of course, long traditions of the pastoral, poetry centered on nature or landscape, in both Eastern and Western language literature. I, myself, am less interested in ‘nature poetry’ – where nature features as theme – than in poetry that investigates – both thematically and formally – the relationship between nature and culture, language and perception.” p.2
“Poetry doesn’t simply supplement the rational intellect but provides inherent and sometimes incommensurable forms of insight. Because its meanings are neither quantitative nor verifiable, poetry may offer different, subtler, and more complex expressions than the language of information and commerce. An ecological poetry might even…” p.3
Excerpts from Redstart: An Ecological Poetics by Forrest Gander and John Kinsella (University of Iowa Press, 2012)
alive in the sea of information 