Writing the Land: Currents is an anthology project by NatureCulture LLC, featuring the work of eleven land trusts across the country. Great Meadows Conservation Trust is proud to be included among them.
As part of this project, poems inspired by these protected lands have been written by twenty four poets. Information about the land trusts, along with their poems, is included in each chapter. Two of these land trust are in Connecticut, including GMCT.
This book is published by NatureCulture LLC as part of a special program initiated by Lis McLoughlin to support the important work of land trusts.
As part of this project, we are pleased to present a poem, masterfully written by former Connecticut Poet Laureate, Margaret Gibson, concentrating on our beautiful Wood parcel.
Quoting from the book, “Margaret Gibson has captured the deep spirit of the Wood parcel in Meditation on a Flood Plain Meadow Lit and Shadowed by Sun and Cloud.”
Praise for Writing the Land: Currents:
“Within this anthology you will encounter sword fern, Fender’s waterleaf, myrtlewoods heavy with moss, purple trillium, winds and sunsets, wild things. The voice of the land, and those who act to conserve land, provide a kind of keystone on which all else depends. Here is where poetry comes into remind us that in each blade of grass memory abides. As the poet Margaret Gibson says in this book: “Outer and inner coalesce and fuse.” Within a woodland, a waterway, a human. This is the harmony Aldo Leopold imagined between the land and us-and Currents reminds us that we exist within circles of connectivity, as does waterleaf, fern, upland sandpiper, fine sandy loam, and mucky peat. Gratitude to these stewards of land, and to those inspired to raise a voice in harmony.”
Scott Chaskey, author of Seedtime, and (forthcoming) Soil and Spirit.
“The Writing the Land series has become one to savor. This volume’s poems, with eyes to the land and hearts to the skies, include explorations of the fraught history of land and culture. Step into this collection with everything you’ve been given. Take it beyond with all that you can.“
Hiram Larew, poet, and founder of Poetry X Hunger
“As our relationship with Nature atrophies, what is taken from our understanding of ourselves? What’s our story now? Writing the Land: Currents is an exploration of our relationship to the world we live in, and more importantly, tells us there’s a way forward. We need to open this book and listen.”
Ryan Dennis, PhD; Founder and Director of The Milk House: A Rural Writing Collective, Ireland
Enjoy a reading and explanation of the poem by Connecticut state poet laureate Margaret Gibson on YouTube here: You Tube Poem Reading
Writing the Land: Currents is available as a thank you for each $20 donation. GMCT will send you a copy with the additional cost of $5 for shipping and handling. All donations will go towards our stewardship projects.