REWILD is a collection of documentary lyric poetry that explores places that have been ravaged by war and environmental plunder, then left alone from human interference to regenerate and restore. The poems envision ways we might begin to tunnel through difficulty and despair into "another spreadsheet than human ... chromosomal and intricate". To unbuy ourselves, to rewild our communal lives.
My hope is for poetry to give full voice and place to the displaced, undocumented and endangered.
REWILD is also inspired by many years working in an architecture studio with projects in Big Sur, impacted by successive wildfires grown more severe and widespread through climate change. To feel the force of wildfire is profoundly stressful, humbling, revelatory. Before rebuilding, the land needs to be cleared of toxic materials. Soil requires healing and protection against flooding and erosion. Attention is focused on restoring plant and animal communities – as well as healing for the whole community that has felt deep loss. These challenges reciprocate my practice of poetry.
Envisioning poetics as habitat restoration, I work with materials that address damage and the possibilities of renewal. This connection between what we love and what threatens it impels us to take action. I'm holding out for a very practical, resourceful, mysterious poetics.
Poems are not decoration, they are not static. They are here to change our lives.