Designed by Susan Newman

GIVEAWAY OF AL GORE’S NEW BOOK AND FROM GREEN TO GOLD DESCRIBED IN THE LAST PARAGRAPH!

We’re joining Eco-Libris and 99 other book bloggers in reviewing 100 books that were published in an eco-friendly manner.  Eco-Libris organized this event (see our post about Eco-Libris and Kim’s interview on their blog) to highlight both the need for and availability of books printed on recycled paper or FSC-certified paper.  “Although there’s so much hype around e-books, books printed on paper dominate the book market, and we want them to be as environmentally sound as possible ,” explains Raz Godelnik, co-founder and CEO of Eco-Libris. “Very few books are currently printed responsibly and we hope this initiative will bring more exposure to “green” books. Through this campaign we want to encourage publishers to get greener and readers to take the environment into consideration when purchasing books.”

We are so happy to join today’s blogging event.  Since I am trying to read more poetry, I decided to chose From Green to Gold by Harold Enrico as our review book.  This poetry collection is not only printed in a green manner, the poems themselves evoke an awareness of the beauty of nature and life.   I experienced a sense of melancholy and an awareness of the beauty of every moment as I read the poems.  

The theme of the time passing repeatedly occurs:  in the appropriately named “Time,” time is ”the mongrel bitch, limping along on three legs . . . She holds a bleeding forepaw tightly against her chest and whimpers from time to time.”   Even more poignant for me was “Marston-Bigot, Somerset” which describes the antics of WWII soldiers on New Years Eve at a temporary encampment juxtaposed with the animals (badger, mole) that will continually be present in an ongoing cycle of life.  

Several poems refer to aging, another aspect of time.  My favorite is ”Kontrapunkt” with the repeating lines “I crave another body.  This one will never do.”  References to autumn and winter as stand ins for aging abound in the new poems (some are selected from previous collections).  One of my favorites, “Midsummer Past,” felt like a description of a reprieve in the midst of life, while ”Winter” with “Love has lost its luster.  The rose will not bloom again this year” harkened to an end of life period.

The bird images struck me.  I know certain types of birds have representative meanings, but I don’t know what they are and I don’t feel like I lost anything in the poem by my ignorance.  It seemed clear that that the hawk repeatedly represented death or an ending.  I especially enjoyed “Taymuusya, Rock Wren” which starts with a perky wren who sings all morning long “until I am sick of hearing it.  The same old tune and worn-out words.”  A hawk threatens, then a snake, and the perky bird notices.  The poet asks

What did you hear?
The dry sound of rattling on the rocks,
a sound beyond sound,
it chilled  me to the bones.

Then nothing.  No more sound,
not even beyond sound.
Beyond stillness.
Only the imperceptible hiss
of the rising wind
as the snake slivered off.

I loved this poem.  I enjoyed the wonderment of nature combined with the confession that the bird song we’re supposed to love can be annoying.  It intrigues me that I”m not sure if the poet wanted the bird to survive or not.

From Green to Goldis a collection of poems that prompted images of beauty and caused me to think about nature, art, war and aging.  It’s eco-friendly printing only lives out the underlying message of the collection, that our world and lives are wondrous.

In honor of the Green Books Campaign, we’re giving away a copy of From Green to Gold by Harold Enrico AND a copy of Our Choice by Al Gore, his latest thoughts on helping our environment.  To qualify to win either book, leave a comment with what you think is the easiest thing to do to lessen your carbon footprint.  We’ll decide both winners using random.org on Saturday, November 14th.