A book of poetic reflections that honors the beauty and wisdom of Nature and invites the reader to open into wonder and gratitude as a way to help heal the Earth and ourselves. The 41 poems in this collection are inspired by the author’s experiences in the natural world and the insights gleaned from these experiences.
Written with the sensibility of a nature lover and spiritual seeker, the poems in this book serve to heighten awareness of our deeper nature and our interconnectedness with all life.
Some of the poems are written in a lyrical style reminiscent of the transcendentalists like Thoreau or the romantics like Whitman, others draw from the simplicity of haiku. Many of the poems call to mind the immense journey that has brought us here and the great Mystery that underlies life.
All awaken a greater sense of wonder and appreciation for the beauty of the Earth.
Freeman’s (The Infinite Song, 2013) new poetry collection offers an unabashed paean to nature.
Perfect for a backyard hammock or quiet moment in the great outdoors, this book uses lyrical descriptions of creatures and landscapes to celebrate the mysteries of the wild world. Beauty is pre-eminent—a virtue—and omnipresent; readers just have to know where to look and when to be watchful. “Today, it was the fish who were my teachers,” begins the poem “Rainbow Trout.” Under the rough surface “is a place of refuge.” The poet believes in the totemlike aspects of animals and their ability to carry messages. Her portrait of the pileated woodpecker working a dead trunk for food, for example, sees the bird as a harbinger of optimism in a challenging world. After he “chiseled the tree from different angles,” a lesson emerged: “See how it’s possible / to find nourishment / in what is broken, / beauty in decay?” This sort of reverence for nature’s teachings fills the book to bursting. Even the growth pattern of a wild geranium gives form to worshipful attention: “And so I point my storksbill seedpod / to the breathing hole of sky, / and uncoil my seed dreams / into the honey nectar of the heart, / to take root and flower.” Scientific knowledge informs the poems in the specific habitats and animal behaviors noted, but cultural legends (Egypt’s “special feather of Maat” that determines one’s afterlife) and mystical moments (“Blow the wind of your soul’s knowing into place”) also matter. Anthropomorphosis represents yet another way of knowing. In “Red-tailed Hawk Messenger,” for instance, a hawk’s cry takes phonetic shape, “Kree-eee-ar!” / Kree-eee-ar!” but also an English translation: “ ‘Speak up for yourself! / Speak up for what is true!’ / he cried, / his voice filling the hollows.” However readers find it, a sense of awe promises the best connection to the larger universe: “There are no doors to a meadow / but one crosses a threshold to enter.”
For its openness to natural wonders, this poetry volume humbles and delights. — Kirkus Reviews
What the River Knows: Conversations with the Natural World
By Andrea Freeman
Star Rating: 5 / 5
The many and varied wonders of nature have long been fodder for poets. Think of Walt Whitman, Joyce Kilmer, Emily Dickinson, and many more. This collection of poems by Andrea Freeman—a naturalist, writer, artist, and more—will comfortably find a place among other nature poets and their works. Freeman examines a wide range of fauna—foxes, dragonflies, California condors, rainbow trout, coyotes, and others—and flora—jasmine, oak leaves, storksbill geraniums—as well as rocks, water, and beyond into the firmament. Her love of all things found in the natural world is apparent in every line, every careful word choice, and every image in her lyrical, mostly unrhymed work. Her personal observations inform every poem, as seen in these lines from “The Fox Meadow”:
“They walk as softly as shadows
crossing a meadow, foxes do —
their ears perked, listening.”
The skill with which Freeman takes her readers along on her forays into the wilderness is really astounding. Her descriptions are rich and personal and paint such pictures, as in these lines in “Reflections on a Rainy Day”:
“The curling mustache of mosses and ferns
unfurled into a festoon of freshly moistened smiles.”
Certainly Freeman’s attributes as artist, writer, and naturalist can be seen all over this collection, and her attributes as a self-described mystic show up often as well with lines such as, “Blow the wind of your soul’s knowing into place” from the poem “Tongues of Fire.”
Poet Freeman has written a highly personal collection and readers will feel they come to know her and what is important to her as well as how she approaches the wonders and magic found in the natural world. At the same time, it is completely accessible and open enough that a reader can bring his or her own experience to the collection and find ways to relate those experiences to many of these verses. This is a lovely work that deserves a wide readership.
— San Francisco Book Review
