Pattiann Rogers

I was surprised by how much I loved this book which I serendipitously picked up, since I don't make a habit of reading poetry books. Perhaps it was because it is a mix of poems and essays. While the poems read effortlessly, I'd occasionally realize how some alliteration brings an added pleasure to the image: e.g. "crashing cathedrals of stormy seas". I love how she can intertwine obscure facts from natural history into her writing--and I've heard that her well thought out listings are one of show more her trademarks.
Serendipitously (again), some images in this book were also brought up in other books I'm concurrently reading. For example, (p 56-7) her poem "The Importance of the Whale in the Field of Iris" gives a contrasting image to that explored in Kathleen Norris' "Dakota", where Norris sees the whale as something swallowing her up, but is encouraged by a young student's alter-image. Or her thoughts on gifts, and their obligations (p 76-7) coincides with Norris' musings on seeing education as a gift from the community and a responsibility to return to that community (again, in "Dakota"). Or her poem "The Greatest Grandeur" (p 74-6) read so soon after reading in Laurens Van Der Post's "A Story Like Wind" about the grandeur of the African night " (p. 240) "...so they stood there...silent, humbled and solemn in the manner of persons experiencing...this impact of African night which one still believes to be the greatest of all the many forms darkness can assume on this insignificant planet."
Rogers seems to have a philosophy which matches my own: finding the presence of Spirit in nature. (She is not as reluctant as I to use the word "God", especially in the final pages where she shares 5 poems addressing her concept of god.)
Not simply poetry, which I have difficulty reading consecutively, needing to just dip into the poems and reflect--although my reading of this book also was broken into short segments--this book includes her perspective on the poems, introductions which say what she was thinking about, what she was trying to convey. There really is no good stopping place once you start; you are led from one poem into prose which elaborates on it and leads into a new aspect and a new poem.

Definitely an author I'll recommend and seek out again. And a publisher's series I will look at for more great writing. show less

Pattiann Rogers is that rare poet who writes with the lyrical love of nature that Wordsworth had but without any false sentimentality. Instead, she brings the eye of the scientist together with the heart of the naturalist. She is unafraid to face the harsh reality of life and death in her own existence or in the natural or human world around her. This mid-career collection shows Rogers at her best.

Despite awards and recognitions, Pattiann Rogers is still an under-appreciated poet of the latter 20th and early 21st Centuries. In this prose essay, Rogers describes how her writing creates her as she creates it, and that this mirrors our place in the natural world, which creates us as we give it consciousness. She shines her words on the sacred in the smallest detail, and with passion and sensuality, makes a marriage of art and science. This small book is worth reading more than once.

Pattiann Rogers continues to be one of the best poets writing today, although her reputation may not be as widespread as some. In this 2008 collection, Rogers once again interweaves science, nature, the very personal, the psychological, and the philosophic in a lovely and sometimes whimsical tapestry. While there is whimsy in how she weaves, every word is seriously meant and seriously placed.

The opening poem, "The Great Deluge and Its Coming" describes a torrent of water and creatures to show more reveal the unity of all being and the fragility of all living creatures in the face of "the ultimate stillness of the dependable void." The collection is organized as if each section were a visit to a Concert Hall or a Museum or a natural habitat.

If you love poetry and/or if you love life, spend some time with "Wayfare." Pattiann Rogers is a great companion. show less