Good Trouble Reading Group: Earth Prayers

This month we'll discuss a selection of poems from the anthology Earth Prayers: Encounters in Poetry with the Natural World, edited by former Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, Carol Ann Duffy.

These hundred poems span from past centuries to the present day, and even the earliest ones reveal a concern for the welfare of our planet. From John Clare to Lucille Clifton to Kathleen Jamie, these poets speak as stewards and ambassadors of the earth, in anger at those who would exploit nature, or to question their own part in its decline. And the earth speaks back: in Stephanie Pruitt’s ‘Mississippi Gardens’ the soil bears witness to the worst of human history, while in ‘Poem’ Jorie Graham relays the earth’s plea: ‘remember me’. Duffy brings poets from ages past into conversation with contemporary voices writing into the environmental crisis, and through this dialogue sounds the call to cherish and defend the planet while we can.

Email eden@lapl.org for the reading selection and the Zoom link to attend.