Reading the Earth (Lotus Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Claude Wilkinson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 1998 | Series: Lotus Poetry Series

That Claude Wilkinson is bonded to the southern landscape and deeply in love with it is evident in the forty-four poems that make up Reading the Earth. These poems demonstrate a rare sensitivity to the natural world and its significance to human lives. Observers of the most mundane aspect of nature, the author not only reports but immerses the reader into full participation in his Eden.  
     Born in Memphis, Tennessee, the author grew up on a farm in northwest Mississippi and makes his home in Nesbit. He has taught in the English departments of a number of colleges and universities. His poems have appeared in numerous publications including Atlanta Review, Colorado North Review, Georgetown Review, Visions International, and Wind. Also a visual artist, his drawings and paintings have been exhibited in many museums throughout the South. Reading the Earth, his first published volume, is the winner of the fifth annual Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award.  
 

Editorial Reviews

Review

Act Of God
Baptism With Water Moccasin
Blackberry Fools
Bobwhites On A Spring Morning
Borrowed Time
By Night
Ceremony
The Christ's-thorn
Dealate
Driving
Ephemerida
Epoch
Evanescence
Expecting Blackbirds
The Falcon
Fall Song
Firelight
God's Acre
Haute Cuisine
Hernando Point
Hummingbirds
Juke
June
Knell
Landmarks
Lively Oracles
Marigolds
The Men's Club Hunt
Midsummer
Moles
Mowing The Lawn
Natchez Trace
On My Sister's Wedding
Raking Leaves
The Rattlesnake-contemplations On A Bronze
Reading The Earth
Savanna
Shells
A Simpler Optimism
Slug
Way Of Life
Whippoorwill
White Horses
Whitetail
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

About the Author

Claude Wilkinson is a Memphis, Tennessee native whose work has appeared in African American Review, Arkansas Quarterly, Atlanta Review, Georgetown Review, and numerous other publications. He is winner of the 2000 Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation $35,000 award, given annually to emerging writers of exceptional talent and promise.

Product Details

• Paperback: 75 pages
• Publisher: Michigan State University Press (May 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0870134817
• ISBN-13: 978-0870134814
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,761,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars finely crafted, thoughtful poems, June 26, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Reading the Earth (Lotus Poetry Series) (Paperback)

As a relatively new resident of Mississippi and an avid reader of "nature" literature, I was delighted to pick up this book of poems at my local library. Wilkinson is a native Mississippian. His work is deeply rooted in the land and spirit of this State. He focuses on the small details of the natural world. Through his poems he shows a keen awareness and sensitivity to the changing seasons. A common theme throughout this work is how to reconcile the two educations he received as a child: the empiricistic knowledge about the land and its inhabitants versus the spiritual knowledge taught to him by his family and his Church. What does nature teach us about God? What do God and the Bible teach us about ourselves? How does it all fit together?

The poems are finely crafted. The voice is solid, thoughtful, gentle and reflective. A good read for anyone.