Enjoying Outside, Inside - Nature Poetry

California nature, so sublime and so complex, calls out for poems and calls out to poets. Some of the country's great nature poets have been based here, perhaps most famously Gary Snyder, who taught at UC Davis and wrote extensively about the Sierra Nevada.
You can play poetry as a spectator sport or you can write your own. As drawing can bring you in touch with nature, so can writing, and a short poem is a great way to see things more clearly and in more detail and express what you're seeing.
There are nature poetry prompts here to start you writing--but you can also simply look out the window and see what catches your eye. And did you know that the haiku you learned about in grade school is actually one of the oldest forms of nature poetry? Most people learn the basic haiku form:
first line: five syllables
second line: seven syllables
third line: five syllables
but fewer know that in Japan, where haiku originated, a true haiku always incorporates some seasonal reference. Here are some masterful haiku by Basho to take you through the seasons in ways from subtle to poignant. These pithy poems are a wonderful way to illuminate a moment.
If you prefer to appreciate others' poetry, here are a few links to get you acquainted with just a few of California's nature poets.
Ursula K. LeGuin's To the Rain evokes the relief of that first autumnal rain. Her book Always Coming Home incorporates poems, songs, even plays to show us a place much like the Napa Valley some time in the future.
Dana Gioia's California Hills in August is seasonally apropos.
Rafael Jesús González reads his poem in English and Spanish, Maps Lie/Mapas Mienten, less about nature than about how we think about it.
Alice Walker's The Tree of Life calls to mind the mountainous coast of Mendocino, where she lives.
If you crave more poetry, Fire and Rain: Ecopoetry of California includes over 250 poems by nearly 150 contributors, many who are well-known, many who are discoveries. Arranged by region, it gives an opportunity to appreciate the Coast Ranges and the Sacramento Valley as well as other areas.
As you can see, there's plenty to be poetic about in our region. Our deep home place deserves more poems--perhaps you'll write some.
-Amy Boyer
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