Dear Friend,
It will be no surprise to anyone paying attention that I didn’t get far with my reflections on Hewitt’s All Down Darkness Wide. I want to apologize for missing some of those updates, but to be honest, I finished the book much, much sooner than expected and got so caught up in the reading, that I lost track of the writing–or even note-taking! That’s obviously antithetical to the point of this whole endeavor, but I’d say it’s also the sign of one incredibly compelling book.
I will say this much: I felt All Down Darkness Wide to the core of my being. I could not put it down, even when it was uncomfortable. I am looking forward with so much anticipation to reading the two Hewitt poetry collections I’ve got on my poetry shelf.
Our December 2024 Reading Selection
This month, we turn our attention back to poetry, and in this case, a themed collection from some of today’s most prolific and acclaimed poets, on “the natural world.” Some of my all-time favorite poets are brought together here in this edition, edited by poet laureate Ada Limón. These include Joy Harjo (whom we’ve read for the project), Eduardo C. Corral, Diane Seuss (whom we will be reading for this project next year!), Carl Phillips, Jericho Brown (whom I think is one of the greatest living poets), Danez Smith, Paul Tran, and Patricia Smith.
I’m very much looking forward to ruminating on nature during the month of December, when my mind is often anticipating a new year and renewal, and I’m also excited to encounter some new-to-me poets in this collection.
Publisher’s description: In recent years, our poetic landscape has evolved in profound and exciting ways. So has our planet. Edited and introduced by the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States, Ada Limón, this book challenges what we think we know about “nature poetry,” illuminating the myriad ways our landscapes-both literal and literary-are changing.
You Are Here features fifty previously unpublished poems from some of the nation’s most accomplished poets, including Joy Harjo, Diane Seuss, Rigoberto González, Jericho Brown, Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Paul Tran, and more. Each poem engages with its author’s local landscape-be it the breathtaking variety of flora in a national park, or a lone tree flowering persistently by a bus stop-offering an intimate model of how we relate to the world around us and a beautifully diverse range of voices from across the United States.
Joyful and provocative, wondrous and urgent, this singular collection of poems offers a lyrical reimagining of what “nature” and “poetry” are today, inviting readers to experience both anew.
About the editor: Ada Limón became the twenty-fourth Poet Laureate of the United States in July of 2022. Limón is the author of the poetry collections The Hurting Kind (2022, Milkweed Editions); The Carrying (2018, Milkweed Editions), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry; Bright Dead Things (2015, Milkweed Editions), a finalist for the National Book Award, the National Books Critics Circle Award, and the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award; Sharks in the Rivers (2010, Milkweed Editions); Lucky Wreck (2005, Autumn House Press, reissued 2021); and This Big Fake World (2005, Pearl Editions).
Limón earned an MFA from New York University and is the recipient of fellowships from the MacArthur Foundation, Guggenheim Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including the New Yorker, Harvard Review, Pleiades, and Barrow Street. —Poetry Foundation
Why Contemplative Reading?
Contemplative reading asks us not just what we’re learning about the book in our hands (or ears), but what we’re learning about ourselves through the experience of reading it. The aim is to create deeper awareness of ourselves and understanding of others. It is often described as “holistic,” but also as “heart-knowing.”
Heart-knowing. Doesn’t that sound nice?
The Plan
This book is divided into fifty poems covering 150 pages. I’m going to aim to read twelve or thirteen poems per week, or about two per day, in order to balance my reflections each Friday and to be able to speak to a few poems at a time. Here’s my posting schedule:
- Nov. 06: Poems one through thirteen.
- Nov. 13: Poems fourteen through twenty-five.
- Nov. 20: Poems twenty-six through thirty-eight.
- Nov. 27: Poems thirty-nine through fifty.
Reading & Responding
Each set of reading will guide my responses here on the blog and on social media. I will sometimes share the most provocative line or passage, and what it makes me think about. Other times, I’ll ask questions about the reading, things I’m wondering about or confused about. And still further, I might compare what I’m reading to what it reminds me of from other readings or experiences. I don’t want to give too much guidance about how to read, except to say, read attentively, read slowly, and listen to yourself. What thoughts and feelings arise as you’re reading? Write them down and give yourself some moments to reflect on why you’re thinking what you’re thinking, or why you’re feeling what you’re feeling.
I encourage you to join these conversations and leave your thoughts in the blog comments or on your socials. On social media, please use #theCRPblog.
Meditation
“What I want to say is / that the past is the past, / and the present is what your life is, / and you are capable / of choosing what that will be . . . ” -Mary Oliver
With love,
~Adam
Contemplative Reading Project 
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