Here grows a living anthology, a quiet gathering of the stories, songs, books and wonders that first taught me to make, to write, and to wander in daydream. Some came like lanterns, others like little seeds buried in the dark. Directly or by hidden paths, they have all shaped the way I see the world, and so the shapes my own words take when I write of it. If something I have shared in this little corner of the internet has pleased you, these may please you just as surely. I'm leaving them at this threshold, for you to discover as you would a path through the woods.
Beloved Poetry
- Wendell Berry, The Wild Rose.
- Linda Pastan, April.
- W. S. Merwin, Black Cherries.
- Naomi Shihab Nye, Kindness.
- Robert Frost, The Tuft of Flowers.
- Jane Hirshfield, For What Binds Us.
- Naomi Shihab Nye, Kindness.
- Louise Glück, The Wild Iris.
- Maxine Kumin, The Word.
- Denise Levertov, Brother Ivy.
- Kathleen Jamie, The Hinds.
- Amy Clampitt, A Hermit Thrush.
- John Clare, Clock-O’-Clay.
- Edward Hirsch, Wild Gratitude.
Treasured Essays
- Annie Dillard, Total Eclipse.
- Wendell Berry, A Native Hill.
- Robin Wall Kimmerer, Witch Hazel.
- Richard Jefferies, Wild Flowers.
- Aldo Leopold, Thinking Like a Mountain.
- Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder.
- Scott Russell Sanders, Mind in the Forest.
- Sumana Roy, Guests of Honor.
- Laura Marris, Lost Lake.
- Janisse Ray, Exaltation of Elk.
- Terry T. Williams, The Liturgy of Home.
- Wendell Berry, Entrance to the Woods.
- Rebecca Solnit, The Blue of Distance.
- Loren Eiseley, The Judgment of the Birds.
Cherished Books
- Jane Hirshfield, Of Gravity & Angels.
- John O’Donohue, Conamara Blues.
- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
- Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass.
- Mary Oliver, A Thousand Mornings.
- Sarojini Naidu, The Golden Threshold.
- Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain.
- Niyi Osundare, The Eye of the Earth.
- Henry David Thoreau, Walden.
- Clarice Lispector, Near to the Wild Heart.
- Rainer M. Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet.
- Thomas à Kempis, Imitation of Christ.
- Anne Carson, Plainwater.
- Gregory Orr, Poetry as Survival.
Dreamy Music
- Small Sur, Wild Geese.
- Nick Drake, Pink Moon.
- Gillian Welch, Acony Bell.
- Bon Iver, Holocene.
- Greg Walker, The Summer Day.
- Joni Mitchell, A Bird that Whistles.
- Iron & Wine, Autumn Town Leaves.
- Cedar Roots, Joy in the Little Things.
- The Honey Trees, Orchard.
- Fleet Foxes, White Winter Hymnal.
- Cat Stevens, Into White.
- Simon & Garfunkel, Sparrow.
- James Taylor, Plainwater.
- Ophelia Moon, Magic and Daffodils.