All night<\/p>\r\n
I heard the small kingdoms breathing<\/p>\r\n
around me, the insects, and the birds<\/p>\r\n
who do their work in the darkness. All night<\/p>\r\n
I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling<\/p>\r\n
with a luminous doom. By morning<\/p>\r\n
I had vanished at least a dozen times<\/p>\r\n
into something better.<\/p>\r\n
\u2013 Mary Oliver, \u201cSleeping in the Forest\u201d<\/p>\r\n \r\n\r\nMost of us feel a deep connection to the physical land we come from. At different times we may work its soil, appreciate its beauty, and marvel at its resilience. Prince Edward Island is renowned for its distinctive landscape, perhaps most famously its red cliffs contrasting vividly with blue oceans and green fields. These features attract crowds of tourists every year and are the pride of all who call PEI home. The authors in this chapter illustrate their connections to the landscape that they are a part of, and the ways in which it has shaped their view of the world. Although not all of the works are about Prince Edward Island, each depicts the sense of love and awe that the writer feels for the natural environment that they inhabit. Together, these pieces show how human beings change nature, as well as how we ourselves are changed by it.\r\n\r\nKylee Bustard\u2019s poem \u201cFiona\u2019s Toll\u201d chronicles the sense of helplessness that was felt across Prince Edward Island on the night of September 23rd, 2022, as Hurricane Fiona destroyed fields and forests in her rage. By ending the poem with a reference to the seemingly endless waiting that occurred during and after the hurricane, Bustard emphasizes the ways in which our modern technologies are still no match for the forces of nature which leave humans \u201cpowerless\u201d in more ways than one.\r\n\r\nIn her poem \u201cTrees and Powerlines\u201d Aurora Ryder displays the other side of Bustard\u2019s point, showing how human beings can destroy nature's work of many years in mere minutes. Told from the point of view of a tree, \u201cTrees and Powerlines\u201d takes the reader through the tree\u2019s journey from a mere sapling to the mighty \u201cking of all but sky.\u201d At the end of the poem, the speaker is forced to confront the reality of reaching too far outside their own dominion, which powerfully demonstrates the tension between the natural and constructed worlds.\r\n\r\nThe theme of human impacts on the environment is continued in Jennifer Alexander\u2019s \u201ca deer swam from new brunswick to prince edward island.\u201d In this poem, the reader is invited to reflect on the poignant story of the deer who swam from New Brunswick to PEI in October of 2022 and was killed by a transfer truck soon after arriving. The speaker in this poem uses the untimely death of the deer to challenge her own tendency to take time for granted, and to encourage the reader to take risks by occasionally venturing out of their own habitat.\r\n\r\nRebekah Coates\u2019s poem \u201cLullaby of Remembrance'' focuses on the solace that nature can bring in times of distress. The speaker relates a troubled history of living in a land that has long been plagued by slavery and war. It is the image of \u201chome,\u201d with its mountains, seas, and farmlands that encourages the speaker to endure until peace comes again. Beginning with a reference to the comforting \u201clullabies\u201d of nature, Coates\u2019s poem illustrates the way that familiar landscapes can offer peace during the most difficult circumstances in life.\r\n\r\nSpecific experiences of living in the environment of Prince Edward Island appear in two poems by Fiona Steele. The first, \u201cVisiting Tourist Spots in Early May,\u201d captures the \u201calmost holy\u201d experience of standing on a nearly empty PEI beach and experiencing the whispers of the wind before the mass arrival of summer tourists makes such intimate experiences impossible. In Steele\u2019s other poem \u201cOn Moving Away,\u201d the speaker tries to hold onto the feeling of being \u201cheld by this Island\u201d as she prepares to leave it for a time. By acknowledging the Island\u2019s \u201cheartbeat\u201d in the ocean\u2019s crashing waves, Steele shows how the places we come from often seem as alive as we are.\r\n\r\nAll of the works in this chapter deal with the authors' connections to the physical \u201chabitat\u201d in which they live\u2014how it inspires them to create, reflect, and persevere through difficult circumstances. Their works depict how human beings witness nature, but also how we are a part of nature ourselves, and therefore feel a natural kinship with it. These six poems demonstrate how nature can both frighten and sustain us, and how we can love the natural world even as we realize how our activities harm it. It is a knowledge of our own place in nature and how it shapes us that keeps us connected to our roots, no matter what environments we might inhabit during our lives.\r\n\r\n \r\n
Claire MacPhee<\/em><\/p>\r\n Editor<\/em><\/p>","rendered":" All night<\/p>\n I heard the small kingdoms breathing<\/p>\n around me, the insects, and the birds<\/p>\n who do their work in the darkness. All night<\/p>\n I rose and fell, as if in water, grappling<\/p>\n with a luminous doom. By morning<\/p>\n I had vanished at least a dozen times<\/p>\n into something better.<\/p>\n \u2013 Mary Oliver, \u201cSleeping in the Forest\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most of us feel a deep connection to the physical land we come from. At different times we may work its soil, appreciate its beauty, and marvel at its resilience. Prince Edward Island is renowned for its distinctive landscape, perhaps most famously its red cliffs contrasting vividly with blue oceans and green fields. These features attract crowds of tourists every year and are the pride of all who call PEI home. The authors in this chapter illustrate their connections to the landscape that they are a part of, and the ways in which it has shaped their view of the world. Although not all of the works are about Prince Edward Island, each depicts the sense of love and awe that the writer feels for the natural environment that they inhabit. Together, these pieces show how human beings change nature, as well as how we ourselves are changed by it.<\/p>\n Kylee Bustard\u2019s poem \u201cFiona\u2019s Toll\u201d chronicles the sense of helplessness that was felt across Prince Edward Island on the night of September 23rd, 2022, as Hurricane Fiona destroyed fields and forests in her rage. By ending the poem with a reference to the seemingly endless waiting that occurred during and after the hurricane, Bustard emphasizes the ways in which our modern technologies are still no match for the forces of nature which leave humans \u201cpowerless\u201d in more ways than one.<\/p>\n In her poem \u201cTrees and Powerlines\u201d Aurora Ryder displays the other side of Bustard\u2019s point, showing how human beings can destroy nature’s work of many years in mere minutes. Told from the point of view of a tree, \u201cTrees and Powerlines\u201d takes the reader through the tree\u2019s journey from a mere sapling to the mighty \u201cking of all but sky.\u201d At the end of the poem, the speaker is forced to confront the reality of reaching too far outside their own dominion, which powerfully demonstrates the tension between the natural and constructed worlds.<\/p>\n The theme of human impacts on the environment is continued in Jennifer Alexander\u2019s \u201ca deer swam from new brunswick to prince edward island.\u201d In this poem, the reader is invited to reflect on the poignant story of the deer who swam from New Brunswick to PEI in October of 2022 and was killed by a transfer truck soon after arriving. The speaker in this poem uses the untimely death of the deer to challenge her own tendency to take time for granted, and to encourage the reader to take risks by occasionally venturing out of their own habitat.<\/p>\n Rebekah Coates\u2019s poem \u201cLullaby of Remembrance” focuses on the solace that nature can bring in times of distress. The speaker relates a troubled history of living in a land that has long been plagued by slavery and war. It is the image of \u201chome,\u201d with its mountains, seas, and farmlands that encourages the speaker to endure until peace comes again. Beginning with a reference to the comforting \u201clullabies\u201d of nature, Coates\u2019s poem illustrates the way that familiar landscapes can offer peace during the most difficult circumstances in life.<\/p>\n Specific experiences of living in the environment of Prince Edward Island appear in two poems by Fiona Steele. The first, \u201cVisiting Tourist Spots in Early May,\u201d captures the \u201calmost holy\u201d experience of standing on a nearly empty PEI beach and experiencing the whispers of the wind before the mass arrival of summer tourists makes such intimate experiences impossible. In Steele\u2019s other poem \u201cOn Moving Away,\u201d the speaker tries to hold onto the feeling of being \u201cheld by this Island\u201d as she prepares to leave it for a time. By acknowledging the Island\u2019s \u201cheartbeat\u201d in the ocean\u2019s crashing waves, Steele shows how the places we come from often seem as alive as we are.<\/p>\n All of the works in this chapter deal with the authors’ connections to the physical \u201chabitat\u201d in which they live\u2014how it inspires them to create, reflect, and persevere through difficult circumstances. Their works depict how human beings witness nature, but also how we are a part of nature ourselves, and therefore feel a natural kinship with it. These six poems demonstrate how nature can both frighten and sustain us, and how we can love the natural world even as we realize how our activities harm it. It is a knowledge of our own place in nature and how it shapes us that keeps us connected to our roots, no matter what environments we might inhabit during our lives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Claire MacPhee<\/em><\/p>\n Editor<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"menu_order":1,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":["claire-macphee"],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[50],"contributor":[88],"license":[],"class_list":["post-33","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry","chapter-type-numberless","contributor-claire-macphee"],"part":27,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":258,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/revisions\/258"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/27"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/33\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.library.upei.ca\/artsreview-xii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}