Refuge for Cranes due in early September
Refuge for Cranes: Praise Poems from the Anthropocene will be available from Wildhouse Publications early September. The poems range in topic from climate fires and the demise of bees to the “transparency of grace” and the “soul’s deep-down unfathoming.” There’s praise here for beauty “glinting among the detritus,” but there’s also a call to action, to restore a damaged world. Poet and author Angela Alaimo O’Donnell has written of the collection that “Refuge for Cranes plunges us wholly into the natural world through a series of poems that are equal parts celebratory, revelatory, and prophetic…Like the cranes that give the book its title, birds rumored to be immortal and wise, the poet bravely writes the truth he sees, “scratching our message to this passing world.”
Selections from Refuge for Cranes: “Earthbytes”
This poem was a conscious attempt to express the need for active involvement in the environmental crisis, without being “preachy.” I really wanted to write a poem that encourages commitment to conservation and mindful living. This isn’t necessarily that poem, but it’s a start. It began with a fragment of a line from several years ago, “like the bulb that from darkness emits the bloom,” and evolved from there. Yes, the current crisis is dire but I believe we can make a difference. It won’t be easy, but what’s the alternative?
Earthbytes
Perform your natural magic
like the bulb that emits the bloom.
Be in harmony with the brown bear,
the moon, and the music of reeds.
Restore the oceans and rivers,
the kelp forests, marshes and bays.
Repair the hives of bees
and the resting places of monarchs.
Embrace the other, brother and sister.
See no one and nothing as the enemy.
Notice this place as if for the first time
as if it was your own skin, your own bones —
draw strength here, and return it.
– jg
Jerome Gagnon Blog 