Case 5.4

Bruchac, Joseph, and Joe David Bellamy. North Country: An Anthology of Contemporary Writing from the Adirondacks and the Upper Hudson Valley. 1st ed. Greenfield Center, N.Y.: The Greenfield Review Press, 1986. SPEC PS548 .N7 N67 1986 c. 2.

Out of North Country: An Anthology..., I decided to highlight John Corrigan, a poet who continued to show up in various sources throughout the compilation of my bibliography. “Raspberrying with my Mother” stood out to me with its constant use of subtle slant rhymes, “…she must search among the firs/and birch that crowd the brambles out/to fill her peanut butter pail”.

Mitchell, Roger. Adirondack: Poems. Kansas City, MO: BkMk Press, 1988. SPEC PS3563.I82 A66 1988.

Out of an entire book of poetry by Roger Mitchell named Adirondack, I chose to display this poem in particular because I thought his use of an historical event to describe the Adirondack wilderness was something I had not previously seen. The poem itself is funny in that the surveyor’s report makes the Adirondacks sound like such an uninhabitable wasteland, but as most who have found themselves here know, that is not the case.

Bruchac, Joseph. Near the Mountains. Fredonia, NY: White Pine Press, 1987. SPEC PS3552.R794 N42 1987 c.2.

In reading his poetry, it becomes obvious almost immediately that Joseph Bruchac has a close connection to the natural world. I decided to highlight “Camping on the Mountain Top” and “Birches Above Chapel Pond” because these poems show how much Bruchac is able to feel as nature feels: “You wake, knowing/what the cedars felt/when you cracked the centuries/of their dwarf branches/for your cooking fire”. It is difficult to imagine your own effects on other people, and it is even more difficult to put yourself in the place of a tree, yet Bruchac makes it feel natural, like it makes sense.