Here are eighty-three poems on the eternal and timely themes of nature, written by both eminent poets and emerging talents. In various forms of verse, they bring to these pages a vigorous diversity of creatures, weathers, and landscapes from all regions of America. They decry ecological injuries, celebrate nature's beauties and point to its many mysteries, and bear witness to our ever-available opportunity to recognize ourselves as rightful members of the evolutionary flow of earthly life.

Poetry has a distinct and indispensable role to play in our evolving relationship with the natural...