ecopoetics no. 4/5 2004-2005 ecopoetics is published annually (except for this double issue) and dedicated to exploring creative-critical edges between writing (with an emphasis on poetry) and ecology (the theory and praxis of deliberate earthlings). Edited and designed by Jonathan Skinner, with editorial assistance from Florine Melnyk. Rates—single issue: $10 ($20 institutions). Two year (two issue) subscription: $18 ($36 institutions). All prices include postage; outside US & Canada, add $5/issue. Please make checks (in US currency) payable to Jonathan Skinner. Letters to the editor are welcome. All manuscripts (please include an electronic copy, or an e-ddress/ link) should be accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Please allow some time for response. ecopoetics, no. 6 will appear before the end of 2006 (another oversize issue, to make up for the one year hiatus; we return to our regular format in 2007) Note: as email sometimes gets vaporized, please back up vital correspondence with snailmail. ecopoetics 111 Bardwell Street Lewiston, ME 04240 USA [email protected] This issue is made possible by a generous grant from the James H. McNulty Chair, Department of English, SUNY Buffalo (Dennis Tedlock). Contents copyright © ecopoetics. Copyright reverts to contributors upon publication Periplum Editions ISSN 1536-7479 ecopoetics no. 4/5, 2004-2005 JACK COLLOM......................An Evolution of Writing Ideas, and Vice Versa 3 Paragraphs 61 MARY CROW..............Iquitos Market, Side Trip, Stopover on the Amazon 75 KEN EDWARDS.........................................................................Field Notes 78 LUCAS REINER...................................................................Trees 79, 179, 191 JONATHAN STALLING..............................................................Howl Poems 80 DAVID BERRIDGE.......Materials of Pastoral: A Review of Thomas A. Clark 84 SARA WINTZ..................................Field Notes (Humboldt County Cows) 91 FLORINE MELNYK.......Tomatoes in Hand, I Take the #2 Bus Thru Buffalo 92 ETHAN PAQUIN.........................................................................Deep Wild 93 KENNETH GOLDSMITH..................................................from The Weather 94 JONATHAN SKINNER..............(WITH JULIE PATTON) Project for The Swing 102 SPECIAL DOSSIER: ECOPOETICS ROUNDTABLE 104-139 IAN DAVIDSON................in bog myrtle, No Way Back, from this place 105 PETER LARKIN..................................................Fully from all Scarce to 113 PETER JAEGER..........................................from A Black Tooth in Front 117 JONATHAN SKINNER.....................Statement on “New Nature Writing” 127 ALICIA COHEN.........................................Northwest Inhabitation Log 130 LYNN HARRIGAN............................review of The Book of Music & Nature 140 MEREDITH QUARTERMAIN......A Song in Murderous Time: The Poetry of Richard Caddel 142 KATE SCHAPIRA........................from Indigo Bunting – Didactic Overture The Enchanted Neighborhood 147 CHARLES BERNSTEIN....Colliderings: Maggie O'Sullivan’s Medleyed Verse 157 ARTHUR SZE.....................................Solstice Quipu, La Bajada, The Welt 161 LILA ZEMBORAIN....................................from “Mauve Orchids of the Sea” translation by Rosa Alcalá 164 BILL SYLVESTER.................Reviews of Stacy Szymaszek and Juliana Spahr 168 CLAYTON ESHLEMAN......................................Inside Caryl’s Left Shoulder 175 LYTLE SHAW..................................................................Mulch: A Treatise 180 DOUGLAS MANSON.............................29.14:22.IV.04 The Natural World 192 review of Eleni Sikelianos 194 MARK WEISS......................................................................................Riffs 197 MARCELLA DURAND & TINA DARRAGH.............. Deep Eco Pre-cautionary Ponge-ABLEs: A Collaborative Essay 203 JONATHAN SKINNER.......Reviews of Fletcher, Hinton, Robertson, Snyder, 214 Zephyrus Image; Thumbnail reviews of Iijima, Nowak ROY ARENELLA........................................................................Field Notes 240 MICHAEL BASINSKI..........................................Elephants Ensemble Poem 248 400 copies of ecopoetics, no. 4/5 were printed in the winter of 2005-2006 in 10 pt. Garamond on 100% PCW (post-consumer waste), PCF (processed chlorine free) paper. For more information, see Greg Barber Company (www.gregbarberco.com) Some of Jack Collom’s Paragraphs have appeared or will appear in Facture, no. 3 (2002) and in Exchanges of Earth and Sky (Fish Drum, 2006). Kenneth Goldsmith’s The Weather has appeared as a paper- back (Make Now, 2005). Ian Davidson’s “No Way Back” appeared as a pamphlet of the same title through West House Books (Gargoyle Editions, 2005). The excerpt from “A Black Tooth in Front” is from Peter Jaeger’s Eckhart Cars (Salt, 2004). Charles Bernstein’s essay, “Col- liderings,” will be included in the Salt Companion to Maggie O’Sullivan (Salt Publishing, 2006). Arthur Sze’s poems “Solstice Quipu,” “La Bajada,” and “The Welt” appeared in Quipu (Copper Canyon Press, 2005). Clayton Eshleman’s “Inside Caryl’s Left Shoulder” appeared in My Devotion (Black Sparrow Books, 2004). Ethan Paquin’s “Deep Wild” appeared in The Violence (Ahsahta Press New Series, 2005). All of these pieces have been reprinted with permission of the authors. Thanks to the contributors (and especially to Jack Collom) who waited so long for this issue. Thanks to Jane Sprague for seeds from the Anza Borrego desert (on p. 166). Also, special thanks to Bill Sylvester, to Isabelle Pelissier, and to Florine Melnyk for her invaluable assistance— and, once again, to the folks at Alphagraphics and Quality Bindery here in Buffalo. EDITOR’S NOTES tsunami hurricane earthquake / bark beetle wildfire / western tourists vacation / rising south asian economy / spectacular breakdown of civil / agencies manifesting disarray / played out on television / rebellion founded nations / double vulner- ability / gutted services / bloated police state / seen this before / the pleading sena- tors / no longer in control / shed all vestige of american / not agreeing to rights / the rising waters / lapping at the doorsteps not making a difference / the human hand in unrest / shrimp mangrove salad / stripped tsunami bumps / mainstream media / water drawdowns / under bark and pine / islands and wetlands / worsened the impact / connections do not flicker / behind the smokescreen / “we were attacked” / repeating the obvious / awareness of hands / at the local and regional / blurring of boundaries / who we attacked / developers involved / capitalizing “nature” through trial and error / need a healthy debate / intelligence designed / elephant in the room / mother of all human / temperature climbing / non-linear catastro- phes / collectivize hope / make boundary overlaps / biotechnologies / cross the conventional / working relationships / within the disciplines / between the hard and social / due to the threatened / technocratic humanities / interdisciplinary workers / never supported / balkanized education / taking on border blur sabotage the division / between “pure” and “applied” / alive to the moment / pursuing complexity / explore the connections / between global and local / in the current weather / doubting affirming / testing exploiting / composing new meth- ods / engage unpredictable / collaboration fitness / adaptable to change / reliving symbiosis / inhering playfulness / humanity’s metaphors / hand of the breeder / the cover that “nature” / affords the most powerful more room for everything / specifically “not us” / we love and wonder at / pay- ing attention / even the wood burners / in their separateness / will depend upon / homesteaders surviving / less than the nomads / the adaptable leading / the merely steadfast / who perpetuate divisions / culture and nature / breeding out ignorance / indifference to systems / illusions of purity / metaphors for human / drama are dangerous / confusion more productive / proliferating studies 1 SOME BOOKS BY JACK COLLOM ecopoetics is particularly proud to publish the following essay by Jack Collom along with excerpts from the “field written” essay, Paragraphs. As the following bibliog- raphy attests, Collom has been hard at work on ecopoetics—which he construes as poetry, biology, teaching—for forty years; beneath his playful style rests a long, deep and varied collaboration. Poetry Everywhere (which Jack put together with Sheryl Noethe) is still one of the best manuals for teaching poetry in the schools. Two recent collections (Red Car Goes By and Extremes & Balances) gather an astonishing range of poetry. For anyone who wonders what the birds have to say about all of this, Exchanges of Earth and Sky will be the book to have for 2006. Please send in your responses, as we hope to publish some of them in the next ecopoetics. Poetry Collections (unless noted otherwise, the place of publication is Colorado): Exchanges of Earth and Sky. Fish Drum (New York), 2006 Extremes & Balances. Farfalla Press/ McMillan & Parrish, 2004 Blue Yodel, Blue Heron. (CD, with Dan Hankin and Sierra Collom.) Baksun Books I Know Why the Caged Bird Drinks. Farfalla Press/ McMillan & Parrish, 2003 On Laughter: A Melodrama. (With Lyn Hejinian.) Baksun Books, 2003 Corner Bar. (With Jennifer Heath.) Baksun Books Red Car Goes By: Selected Poems (1955-2000). Tuumba Press (California), 2001 Colors Born of Shadow. (CD, with Ken Bernstein.) TreeHouse Press, 1999 Dog Sonnets. Talisman (New Jersey),