Wild Form, Savage Grammar: Poetry, Ecology, Asia

These essays are reports from an increasingly important crossroads where art and ecology meet. Andrew Schelling belongs, in the words of Patrick Pritchett, 'to a small group of poets who are actively engaged with the rhythms and pulses of the natural world.' He is also the pre-eminent translator into English of the poetries of ancient India. This book collects ten years of essays, many of which investigate the 'nature literacy' of American and Asian poetry traditions. Other topics include recollections of Allen Ginsberg and Joanne Kyger, wolf reintroduction in the Rocky Mountains, pilgrimage to Buddhist India, and the possible use of hallucinogens among Paleolithic artists. An underlying commitment to ecology studies, Buddhist teachings, and contemporary poetry weaves the collection together.