First Thoughts
Like with CNF, I don’t think I’ve read much nature poetry despite taking a poetry class. However, in that class, I wrote some of my own poetry which often referred to elements of nature. Poetry as a genre has so many possibilities because the form is almost limitless, but one of the things I love about it is that the way poetry is written can affect the reader in physical ways. For instance, breaking lines in unexpected ways can make the reader feel breathless. If you combine this with a poem that consists of a long, winding sentence filled with imagery and detail that ends with one choppy sentence or word, then the reader feels like they are running aimlessly only to get the wind knocked out of them at the end, which builds and resolves the tension. This can make nature poetry incredibly engaging so the reader is completely absorbed in the writing. One of the challenges with poetry is that it’s typically shorter meaning that complex ideas can be difficult to convey unless you are purposeful in your word choices and the images you use.
Final Thoughts
I really loved Don’t Bother the Earth Spirit by Joy Harjo. It was a shorter piece, but it was intense and the message of nature having a duality about it really resonated with me. In terms of craft, it was interesting how this poem was written in prose and I think that added to the conversational tone that it has. I also liked how Harjo juxtaposes the Earth Spirit’s emotional warmth with the dark story she told. The insight I had about nature from this piece was that nature isn’t just something to write about when it’s beautiful, but that nature can also be dangerous and that side of it is just as important to write about. Something I learned about nature writing is that format can play an important role in conveying a message. Finally, when it comes to my philosophy of nature, I realized that I focus a lot more on the beauty of nature which is only a small part of what nature is, and in order to get a fuller understanding, I need to embrace the dark side of nature.
I have really appreciated how all of these poems come from different perspectives on the environment and how humans are involved in it. I also liked how someone could say so much in a poem even when they weren’t super long. There’s just a different feeling that I get when I read poetry versus CNF, but I think purpose-wise, they can accomplish similar things for nature writing. Still, poetry seems to be better suited for speaking on moments or feelings that aren’t attached to a larger story, while CNF is a better form for telling narrative experiences or discussing subjects with more concrete reasoning and evidence.
My poem is a commentary on how people don’t seem to live their lives truly engaged in the moment and how nature could be a way to do that. I wrote it in the hour we spent outside during lab and I remember that day I was feeling particularly restless about my own life. In workshop, one of the things I took away from what everyone said was that what I wrote about was relatable and I think that was partially because I was able to choose the right words to describe how I was feeling. One thing I learned about nature writing in this process was that nature doesn’t have to be the starting point but that it can guide you through a particular idea. Something I learned about myself is that the combination of writing my thoughts down and sitting out in the sun does wonders for my emotional state because I was feeling super stressed before we went outside, but after I felt totally at peace, at least for a little while.
I feel like my ideas have evolved about poetry since I wrote my original reflection. At the start, I saw poetry as a way to describe beautiful scenery and flowery messages in concentrated detail, but there’s definitely more to nature writing poetry than this. A lot of poems we read spoke more on bigger issues in the natural world and the different frameworks we can approach the environment which I thought was so powerful and had never thought about as poetry. I think overall I’ve just broadened my perspective on poetry as a form of nature writing and the types of messages it can convey.
