A terrific collection that grounds an anguished ecological sensibility in gorgeous writing and deep emotion.
Rainfall is but a forlorn memory in a world ravaged by climate change in these plangent poems.
Carney, a Utah Valley University English professor and winner of the 2023 X. J. Kennedy Poetry Prize, here envisions a near future in which global warming has led to eternal drought. Rivers and lakes dry up, forests wither away, land animals die of thirst, and high temperatures in the Bering Sea kill off nine billion crabs; power plants impose blackouts to conserve trickles of cooling water, and bathtub and sink faucets have nothing coming out (the toilet situation goes mercifully unexplored). A narrator called “the Listener and Reservoir and Scribe” records people’s impressions of the parched hellscape and their memories of the wet, lush world they once enjoyed. Some voice outrage at the new normal (“What kind of bullshit God / wouldn’t already know?” seethes a girl when the governor asks citizens to pray for rain); some wallow in moisture-related reveries (“Say, the sound of a lake / against a boat dock: like tucking in a child, / or like slosh / whenever wakes come rolling”); some console themselves with wan simulacra (“We paint the rocks blue / so they look less like tombstones. / So the riverbeds—dry now, / just paths for deer to walk— / seem less like ghosts”). Rendered in vivid, impressionistic verses, Carney’s scenario frames a set of captivating hymns to the forces of nature, ably conveying the sense of longing for a vibrant planet and sorrow over its degradation. In his richest flights, Carney’s ravishing lyricism articulates a divine communion with the land: “For the wedding of the forest and the moon, / everyone was there, / even wolves / stepping out from the treeline….the river and falls / to add music, / and the rain coming down / to be a witness, / and the sky gave the Future as a gift.”
A terrific collection that grounds an anguished ecological sensibility in gorgeous writing and deep emotion.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9781680033922
Page Count: 86
Publisher: Texas Review Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.
The third volume in the Elephant Whisperer series.
In this follow-up to An Elephant in My Kitchen, Malby-Anthony continues her loving portrait of the Thula Thula wildlife reserve, which she co-founded in 1998 with her late husband, South African conservationist Lawrence Anthony, who published the first book in the series, The Elephant Whisperer, in 2009. Following his death in 2012, Malby-Anthony sought to honor his legacy by continuing his vision “to create a massive conservancy in Zululand, incorporating our land and other small farms and community land into one great big game park.” At the same time, the elephants gave her “a sense of purpose and direction.” In the Zulu language, thula means quiet, and though the author consistently seeks to provide that calm to her charges, peace and tranquility are not always easy to come by at Thula Thula. In this installment, Malby-Anthony discusses many of the challenges faced by her and her staff, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. These included an aggressive, 2-ton rhino named Thabo; the profound loss felt by all upon the death of their elephant matriarch, Frankie; difficulty obtaining permits and the related risk of having to relocate or cull some of their animals; the fear of looting and fire due to civil unrest in the region; and the ongoing and potentially deadly struggles with poachers. Throughout, the author also shares many warm, lighthearted moments, demonstrating the deep bond felt among the humans and animals at the reserve and the powerful effects of the kindness of strangers. “We are all working in unity for the greater good, for the betterment of Thula Thula and all our wildlife….We are humbled by the generosity and love, both from our guests and friends, and from strangers all around the world,” writes the author. “People’s open-hearted support kept us alive in the darkest times.”
A heartwarming and inspiring story for animal lovers.Pub Date: April 25, 2023
ISBN: 9781250284259
Page Count: 320
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
A quirky wonder of a book.
A Peabody Award–winning NPR science reporter chronicles the life of a turn-of-the-century scientist and how her quest led to significant revelations about the meaning of order, chaos, and her own existence.
Miller began doing research on David Starr Jordan (1851-1931) to understand how he had managed to carry on after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake destroyed his work. A taxonomist who is credited with discovering “a full fifth of fish known to man in his day,” Jordan had amassed an unparalleled collection of ichthyological specimens. Gathering up all the fish he could save, Jordan sewed the nameplates that had been on the destroyed jars directly onto the fish. His perseverance intrigued the author, who also discusses the struggles she underwent after her affair with a woman ended a heterosexual relationship. Born into an upstate New York farm family, Jordan attended Cornell and then became an itinerant scholar and field researcher until he landed at Indiana University, where his first ichthyological collection was destroyed by lightning. In between this catastrophe and others involving family members’ deaths, he reconstructed his collection. Later, he was appointed as the founding president of Stanford, where he evolved into a Machiavellian figure who trampled on colleagues and sang the praises of eugenics. Miller concludes that Jordan displayed the characteristics of someone who relied on “positive illusions” to rebound from disaster and that his stand on eugenics came from a belief in “a divine hierarchy from bacteria to humans that point[ed]…toward better.” Considering recent research that negates biological hierarchies, the author then suggests that Jordan’s beloved taxonomic category—fish—does not exist. Part biography, part science report, and part meditation on how the chaos that caused Miller’s existential misery could also bring self-acceptance and a loving wife, this unique book is an ingenious celebration of diversity and the mysterious order that underlies all existence.
A quirky wonder of a book.Pub Date: April 14, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6027-1
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
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