This Human Shape
By Chad Hanson. Northfield, Minnesota: Red Dragonfly Press, 2016.
This new poetry collection by Chad Hanson is populated with interesting characters in the tradition of Edgar Lee Master’s Spoon River Anthology or Dave Etter’s Sunflower County. The women and men in Hanson’s poems, under the influence of a high plains geography, veer into remarkable transformations and unusual relationships—a dinner date with a waterfall or a spruce tree that goes off to college for instance. Both playful and serious, these poetic vignettes give ...
Report on Sharp Eyes IX: John Burroughs Nature Writing Conference & Seminar
By Daniel G. Payne, SUNY College at Oneonta
The ninth biennial “Sharp Eyes” Nature Writing Conference was held at SUNY College at Oneonta from June 6-9, 2016, and drew approximately sixty participants and guests including eighteen students enrolled in the associated undergraduate seminar. The theme of this year’s conference, which was ASLE-affiliated, was “Local, Regional, Global: The Many Faces of Nature Writing” which inspired a wide range of presentations and numerous lively discussions.
The multidisciplinary aspect of environmental literature was fully evident at the conference, ...