Sustainable Poetry: Four American Ecopoets by Leonard M. Scigaj (review)

B o o k R e v i e w s Su st ain ab le P o e try : Fo u r A m e rican E co p o e t s. By Le o n ar d M . Sc ig a j. Le x in gt o n : U n iv e r sit y P ress o f Ke n tu ck y , 1999. 3 3 6 p age s, $ 3 4 .9 5 . R e v ie w e d b y Jo h n P. O ’G r a d y A lle gh e n y C o lle ge H er e is an u n u su al b oo k o f literary criticism . It u rges readers to distin gu ish b etw een tw o kin d s o f poetry in ord er to set th e stage for an epic in tellectu al an d aesth etic b attle. O n th e o n e side, w e h ave “ecopoetry,” a form th at Leo n ar d Scigaj b elieves su stain s th e en vir on m en t. Su ch poetry, accor din g to th e du st jack et, is ch aracterized by its in sisten ce th at “th e in terests o f h u m an s be b alan ced w ith th e n eeds o f n atu r e.” Sc ig aj’s ecop oets are A . R. A m m o n s, W en d ell Berry, W . S. M erw in , an d G ar y Sn yder. T h ese are th e good guys. O n th e o th er side is “u n su stain ab le poetry,” or, as Scigaj likes to call it, “estab lish ' m en t poetry.” T h is form o f verse “system atically n atu ralizes n atu re in to reliably b en ign , N at io n al P ark lan d scap es an d regularly san itizes th e text by sy stem at­ ically ed itin g o u t specific so cial an d econ om ic con cern s, w h ile restrictin g in terest to aesth etics an d lan gu age th eory” (79). R epr esen tativ e figures in th is cam p are Jor ie G r ah am an d R o ber t H ass. C all th em th e b ad guys. Sustainable Poetry th en reads like an ecocr itical psychom achia. So r t of. A s m u ch as a braw lin g Ro b er ta Lavadou r. T H E A R T O F A N G L IN G . 1999. P h otograph o f “A r tist ’s Bo o k .” 5" x 6". Cou rtesy o f th e artist. T h e cov er is com po sed o f h an d ­ m ad e paper an d th e b oo k con tain s an exten d ed passage from Izaak W alto n ’s The Com pleat An gler (167 8). B o o k R e v ie w s 3 0 5 k n o c k - d o w n , d r a g - o u t b e t w e e n t h e fo r c e s o f g o o d a n d e v il c a n d r iv e t h e p lo t in m e d ie v a l a lle go r ie s a n d H o lly w o o d m o v ie s, it is a r isk y st r a t e gy fo r lit er ar y c r it ic ism , e sp e c ia lly w h e n R o b e r t H a ss (o r h is w r it in g) is c a st as...