This issue includes links to resources for nature and arts enthusiasts. The review focuses on J. Drew Lanham’s book of poetry titled Sparrow Envy. Previous editions are archived on Ray’s web page at https://www.rayzimmermanauthor.com/the-rains-come Please send your events and announcements to ray2z@outlook.com
Announcements
Earth and Sky https://earthsky.org/ offers regular articles on the night sky and features of the earth. From the summer triangle to volcanoes and waterspouts this is a highly informative source.
Ecotone Magazine has released a new online issue https://ecotonemagazine.org/about/. According to their web site: Ecotone’s mission is to publish and promote the best place-based work being written today. … An ecotone is a transition zone between two adjacent ecological communities, containing the characteristic species of each. It is therefore a place of danger or opportunity, a testing ground. The magazine explores the ecotones between landscapes, literary genres, scientific and artistic disciplines, modes of thought.
Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center has an online video about attracting butterflies. https://www.facebook.com/ReflectionRidingANC/videos/276663113673755/?v=276663113673755¬if_id=1594310404902615¬if_t=live_video
The Xerxes Society, dedicated to appreciation and conservation of animals without backbones, has become concerned about the decline of fireflies in some parts of the world. Their website https://xerces.org/endangered-species/fireflies includes information about the decline and their conservation efforts.
The Creative Arts Guild of Dalton, Georgia https://www.facebook.com/creativeartsguild/
announces the return of exhibits to their galleries.
Orion Magazine https://orionmagazine.org/ may be the most important conservation magazine currently available. Articles range from stories about family grouping among whales to thriving during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Shameless Self Promotion
I will present a Nature Writing Workshop at Lula Lake on the morning of July 18. Attendance is limited to 10 participants. Follow the link for full information. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/natures-writing-workshop-tickets-112985302080
Sparrow Envy
J. Drew Lanham
Reviewed by Ray Zimmerman
On the journey through this book, the reader will also encounter coyotes as Dr. Lanham calls to mind “The cold night in the desert when I first heard the coyote cry.” (September Song). In another poem he refers to the coyote as the “song dog,” an appropriate name. Speaking in “Migration” he expresses a hope: “it’s my hope/that neither cat/nor glass/ will spell your odyssey’s end.”
“On Timberdoodle Time” speaks of the woodcock, a bird famous for its courtship ritual with strutting and flight ending in earth bound plummets, wings whistling. It is a story of a pursuit interrupted, including the line “In the quest called hunting, there is more to gather than venison.” Seeking deer, he found birds and was delighted with the find.
Dr. Lanham is also the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature. He teaches at Clemson University and is active on the southeast advisory board of the National Audubon Society. He writes regularly for Orion magazine and is perhaps America's best-known black bird watcher.
His perspective is perhaps best revealed through two of the poems, Bohicket Road Ramble, and the final poem, “9 Rules for the Black Birder.” “Bohicket Road Ramble” takes place on John’s Island, a traditional Gullah homeland. The reader is confronted with gentrification and development described in way only possible for someone familiar with the land and the people.
In “9 Rules for the Black Birder,” he urges fellow black birders to carry three forms of identification “…to convince the cops, FBI, Homeland Security, and the flashlight toting security guard that you’re not a terrorist or an escaped convict.” He continues through the final sentence in rule 9 which contains a message to the rest of us, a message you will have to discover for yourself.
Announcements
Earth and Sky https://earthsky.org/ offers regular articles on the night sky and features of the earth. From the summer triangle to volcanoes and waterspouts this is a highly informative source.
Ecotone Magazine has released a new online issue https://ecotonemagazine.org/about/. According to their web site: Ecotone’s mission is to publish and promote the best place-based work being written today. … An ecotone is a transition zone between two adjacent ecological communities, containing the characteristic species of each. It is therefore a place of danger or opportunity, a testing ground. The magazine explores the ecotones between landscapes, literary genres, scientific and artistic disciplines, modes of thought.
Reflection Riding Arboretum and Nature Center has an online video about attracting butterflies. https://www.facebook.com/ReflectionRidingANC/videos/276663113673755/?v=276663113673755¬if_id=1594310404902615¬if_t=live_video
The Xerxes Society, dedicated to appreciation and conservation of animals without backbones, has become concerned about the decline of fireflies in some parts of the world. Their website https://xerces.org/endangered-species/fireflies includes information about the decline and their conservation efforts.
The Creative Arts Guild of Dalton, Georgia https://www.facebook.com/creativeartsguild/
announces the return of exhibits to their galleries.
Orion Magazine https://orionmagazine.org/ may be the most important conservation magazine currently available. Articles range from stories about family grouping among whales to thriving during the Covid-19 lockdowns.
Shameless Self Promotion
I will present a Nature Writing Workshop at Lula Lake on the morning of July 18. Attendance is limited to 10 participants. Follow the link for full information. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/natures-writing-workshop-tickets-112985302080
Sparrow Envy
J. Drew Lanham
Reviewed by Ray Zimmerman
On the journey through this book, the reader will also encounter coyotes as Dr. Lanham calls to mind “The cold night in the desert when I first heard the coyote cry.” (September Song). In another poem he refers to the coyote as the “song dog,” an appropriate name. Speaking in “Migration” he expresses a hope: “it’s my hope/that neither cat/nor glass/ will spell your odyssey’s end.”
“On Timberdoodle Time” speaks of the woodcock, a bird famous for its courtship ritual with strutting and flight ending in earth bound plummets, wings whistling. It is a story of a pursuit interrupted, including the line “In the quest called hunting, there is more to gather than venison.” Seeking deer, he found birds and was delighted with the find.
Dr. Lanham is also the author of The Home Place: Memoirs of a Colored Man's Love Affair with Nature. He teaches at Clemson University and is active on the southeast advisory board of the National Audubon Society. He writes regularly for Orion magazine and is perhaps America's best-known black bird watcher.
His perspective is perhaps best revealed through two of the poems, Bohicket Road Ramble, and the final poem, “9 Rules for the Black Birder.” “Bohicket Road Ramble” takes place on John’s Island, a traditional Gullah homeland. The reader is confronted with gentrification and development described in way only possible for someone familiar with the land and the people.
In “9 Rules for the Black Birder,” he urges fellow black birders to carry three forms of identification “…to convince the cops, FBI, Homeland Security, and the flashlight toting security guard that you’re not a terrorist or an escaped convict.” He continues through the final sentence in rule 9 which contains a message to the rest of us, a message you will have to discover for yourself.
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