Writing the Land: Windblown I
A Creative Collaboration between
the Branford Land Trust
& the Branford Arts and Cultural Alliance
Windblown I is a national anthology project by Writing the Land featuring the work of poets writing about conserved lands for 11 land trusts across the country. Published by NatureCulture LLC, this creative collaboration between the BLT and BACA features four poems by former Norwalk poet laureate Laurel Peterson, and artwork by local artists.
Proceeds from the sale of the book will benefit the conservation efforts of the Branford Land Trust.
“Writing the Land is an attempt to honor nature and our relationship with it in a way that is as equitable and transparent as it is deep and entangled,” says editor Lis McLoughlin. “We intend to be as inclusive — to humans and places — as we hope the mantle of protection that land trusts offer can be. Our work will never be complete but gains strength, depth, beauty, and energy in a multitude of voices.”
BLT’s participation in this project was made possible by funding from the Deirdre Baker Schiffer Fund to the Branford Land Trust, with special thanks to BACA volunteers for jurying the art submissions.
Writing the Land: Windblown I
6×9, black & white, 213 pages
$20.00 plus $3.49 shipping
Poet Laurel Peterson is Professor of English at Norwalk Community College. Her poetry has been published in many small literary journals, and she has two poetry chapbooks: That’s the Way the Music Sounds and Talking to the Mirror. She co-edited a collection of essays on women’s justice titled (Re)Interpretations: The Shapes of Justice in Women’s Experience, wrote the mystery novel, Shadow Notes, and published a full-length collection of poetry, Do You Expect Your Art to Answer You? She served as poet laureate of Norwalk, CT from April 2016 – April 2019.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Tricia Bohan, Lauren Brown, Gerry Casanova, Jan Doyle, Silvia Drewery, Barbara Dwyer, Sharon Hart, Lisa Hesselgrave, Carol Cable Hurst, Trish Karter, Jeanette Mobeck, Sylvia Ohlrich, Gaile Ramey, Dierdre Baker Schiffer, Maria Stockmal, Robert Thomas, and Patricia Towle.
FEATURED LAND TRUSTS
Branford Land Trust (BLT), Capital Region Land Conservancy (VA), Flushing Meadows Corona Park (NYC), Hilltown Land Trust (MA), Inland Northwest Land Conservancy (WA), Jefferson Land Trust (WA), Kansas Land Trust (KS), The Nature Conservancy in Kansas (KS), Peconic Land Trust (NY), Prospect Park Alliance (NYC), and Vermont Land Trust (VT).
Praise for Writing the Land: Windblown I
“Call it by any name you like – environmental ethics, nature appreciation, biophilia – at its heart, conservation is an act of grace, an act of saving the more-than-just-human world. The combination of land conservation and poetry connects what is seen and experienced amidst the natural world with an understanding of its inherent value. The poetry in this volume takes this connection one step further, linking this understanding to specific places. Places that are loved for what they are, full of grace.
— Stephen C. Trombulak, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Biology and Environmental Studies, Middlebury College
This remarkable collection introduces us to protected places and kindred spirits who care for them. Just as the land speaks to the poets, these poems speak to us physically. The pulse of the poetry in combination with captivating photos brings us right there, making this a delectable and essential volume.
— Sarah Pirtle, author of An Outbreak of Peace
“How to love is an ecology / of awe,” writes Kansas poet Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg, and indeed, abiding love and reverence for the land permeates these pages. Like a strong wind blowing west to east, poets’ and artists’ voices rise in joy and celebration documenting the intricate non-human world connecting us across the United States.
— Janet MacFadyen, Managing Editor, Slate Roof Press, and author of Waiting to Be Born
Poetry is an ideal medium to connect what we feel about the land and our place in relation to it. This collection, as varied as the terrain it covers, reveals the often hidden truths and riddles of the places our land trusts and their partners conserve for us all. It enables us to see what we know is there but somehow have managed to miss, making the abstract more concrete, and the concrete more abstract. And in turn, we better understand, in the throes of the climate crisis, what we as people and the land need to thrive.
— Steve Rosenberg, board member of the Land Trust Alliance and former Executive Director of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust
MORE INFORMATION
• Writing the Land Project (writingtheland.org)
• Branford Arts and Cultural Alliance
For more information about the WRITING THE LAND anthology project, contact the BLT at info@branfordlandtrust.org.
