Turtle Island

To take a breather from Gary Snyder's prose, and the extreme reactions (both positive and negative) that it keeps triggering in me, I decided to read some of his poetry instead.

I'm halfway through the book of poems titled "Turtle Island", and thought I'd share some of my favorite snippets:

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How did a great Red-tailed Hawk
come to lie-all stiff and dry-
on the shoulder of
Interstate 5?

(From "The Dead by the Side of the Road")

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I would like to say
Coyote is forever
Inside you.

But it's not true.

(From "The Call of the Wild")

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Manzanita the tips in fruit,
Clusters of hard green berries
The longer you look
The harder they seem

"little apples"

(From "Manzanita")

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It warms my bones
say the stones

(From "The Uses of Light")

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A vast vague white
Draws me out of the night
Says the moth in his flight-

(Also from "The Uses of Light")

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squirrel bones crunched,
tight and dry in scats of
fox.

(From "On San Gabriel Ridges")

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And finally, an entire poem - this funny and delightful one is called "The Wild Mushroom"

Well the sunset rays are shining
Me and Kai have got our tools
A basket and a trowel
And a book with all the rules

Don't ever eat Boletus
If the tube-mouths they are red
Stay away from the Amanitas
Or brother you are dead

Sometimes they're already rotten
Or the stalks are broken off
Where the deer have knocked them over
While turning up the duff

We set out in the forest
To seek the wild mushroom
In shapes diverse and colorful
Shining through the woodland gloom

If you look out under oak trees
Or around an old pine stump
You'll know a mushroom's coming
By the way the leaves are humped

They send out multiple fibers
Through the roots and sod
Some make you mighty sick they say
Or bring you close to God

So here's to the mushroom family
A far-flung friendly clan
For food, for fun, for poison
They are a help to man.

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