Can Poetry Save the Earth?: A Field Guide to Nature Poems

(Ann) #1

248 PA RT T W O


A decade later May Swenson died. On a granite bench above her grave in
Utah, hinting at a girl with “mouth all green,” is carved “The Exchange”: “I’ll
be the grass. /... My mouth, be moss.” A fair exchange, after such a life in
poems. This one ends,


Wind, be motion.
Birds, be passion.
Water, invite me to your bed.
Free download pdf