Turtle Island

I have never been the type of person who necessarily understood and enjoyed poetry. Gary Snyder's book Turtle Island is a composition of multiple essays and poems expressing his thoughts on interactions between humans and the natural world. His works are interesting, focusing on every living being's contribution to the biological and cultural path of life. Some poems were more straightforward and focused on political issues involving humankind's place in nature and some poems were more abstract and hard to understand what his exact message was. Perhaps that's the point of more abstract poetry? Maybe the specific messages are up to the interpretation of the reader. His poems also varied in topic: some were focused on destruction of life and some focused on the cultural aspects of life.

A poem that centered on the destruction of life that I came across called "The Dead by the Side of the Road," detailed the process in which humans use roadkill and hunted animals for resources. A quote, "Fawn stew on Hallowe'en hit by a truck on highway forty-nine offer cornmeal by the mouth; skin it out... Pray to their spirits. Ask them to bless us: our ancient sisters' trails the roads were laid across and kill them: night-shining eyes The dead by the side of the road." A poem I thought to be powerful, referencing our infrastructure's deadliness and ancestors practices.


A poem that I found to be a bit more culturally relevant was called "Anasazi." I looked up what Anasazi meant and the direct translation I found was "Ancient Ones." The Anasazi are thought to be the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians and were located on the Four Corners country of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. Snyder seemed to reference native cultures a lot throughout the collection. I quiet enjoyed this quote from "Anazasi," "you eyes full of pollen the smell of bats. the flavor of sandstone grit on the tongue. women birthing at the foot of ladders in the dark. trickling streams in hidden canyons under the cold rolling desert." I really love the visuals, sounds, and smells that this poem created; It was a great reminder of where our country came from and how humans thrived before current technologies.