Phases 4 by Martin Bridge

Writing the Land: Wanderings II

“Writing the Land is an attempt to honor nature and our relationship with it in a way that is as equitable and transparent as it is deep and entangled. We intend to be as inclusive—to humans and places—as we hope the mantle of protection that land trusts offer can be. Our work will never be complete but gains strength, depth, beauty, and energy in a multitude of voices.” —-Lis McLoughlin, editor

Participating Partners:

Western Rivers Conservancy (CA and ID)

New Jersey Natural Land Trusts (NJ)

Captina Conservancy (OH)

Mahoosuc Land Trust (ME)

Tenngreen (TN)

Owls Head Maine Conservation Commission (ME)

Georges River Land Trust (ME)

Lake George Land Conservancy (NY)

Friends of Columbia Gorge (WA and OR)

Harpswell Heritage Land Trust (ME)

Kestrel Land Trust (MA)

Praise for Writing the Land: Wanderings II

He who would do good, said William Blake, [...] must do it in Minute Particulars. This book overflows with stories, in prose, poem and image, of people doing the work of love: patiently protecting, healing and sometimes mourning, in particulars, what sustains us all.

—Patrick Curry, PhD, author of Art and Enchantment: How Wonder Works, editor in chief of The Ecological Citizen

Writing the Land is a vital project that asks through the language of poetry the most important question that faces us in these cataclysmic times: who are we without the land and the more-than-human kin it nourishes, who nourish us in return? Each anthology contains poems that expose the lie of separation between human and nature, and returns us to the reality that even when trapped amongst pavement and concrete, we are but seedlings and genetic cousins to trees, plants, stones, and mycelia. To know ourselves, we must know the land. Wanderings II is yet another vivid and moving glimpse into these natural landscapes across the country, splaying a treasure-trove of nature preserves somehow both contained and expansive beyond imagining. As the poets immerse themselves in preserves spanning from Washington to New York, you can feel the earth breathe and grow through each poem and photograph, evoking a profound respect for each stream, such as Deer Creek in the Sierras holding the hope for the survival of the sacred salmon, to the plethora of native wildlife in a slice of Ohio to each unique rare plant allowed to thrive in New Jersey’s Mackenzie’s Preserve. With this anthology, you hold in your hands a portal to remember your truest self, an invitation to come back to the land.

—Angela María Spring, poet and journalist, owner of Duende District, a pop-up bookstore project for and by people of color, where all are welcome.

Writing the Land: Wanderings II is a beautiful book that celebrates protected places from Maine to Washington State. Some of the artists in this anthology hear music in these wild lands, the winds and waters and warblers; others see the handprints of indigenous and immigrant history everywhere; still others find wonder in a wildflower or wind-bent oak. The unifying ethos, however, is a keen noticing and a reverence and love for the places they portray.  In this, the poems and images in Wanderings II collaborate to create a kind of love letter to our fragile earth.

—Doug Van Gundy, Poet, Author of A Life Above Water & director of the Low-Residency MFA Program at West Virginia Wesleyan College