In the Salt Marsh: Poems

By Nancy Willard

Book Overview

In this strong, appealing collection, Nancy Willard shares her passion for observing the mysteries of the natural world, particularly the flora and fauna of Cape Cod and the Hudson Valley, where many of these poems are set. We see, through her eyes, the coming of darkness to an empty orchard, the retreat of deer at dusk, and the breakup of a river with the onset of spring. Willard is also deeply engaged with the living creatures that populate her world. Her poems record her encounter with a moon snail and her celebration of the ladybugs she sends into the garden and the butterflies that alight on her shoulders like ghostly kisses.

Amid poems about the intimate presence of nature are expressions of absences deeply felt. Willard is drawn not just to the inhabited world but also to the empty spaces with which our passage through life is strewn. In "The Absence at the Swing," a rabbit watches a swing's back-and-forth motion just after the children have left the playground; in "Niche Without Statue," she takes us to "an alcove scoured / to stucco light" and tells us, "Somebody lived here. Stepped away. No tracks." We learn, too, of the presences she misses most deeply, as in "Phone Poem," in which she imagines receiving a telephone call from her father after his death.

Whether she is cultivating a sense of the life that is all around her or attending to the losses felt within, Nancy Willard never ceases to enchant us with the sense of dedication and awe that graces her verse.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375710531
• ISBN13: 9780375710537
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.6" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

The Exquisite Eye of the Poet

I bought this book because I fell in love with her poem The Ladybugs. A woman pays the passage for this natural method of ridding dangerous pests from her trees. "They arrived, famished and sleepy, in a muslin bag slim as a pencil case, or a reticule for opera glasses, or very small change." We soon learn: "The ladybugs will want a drink after their long journey. Sprinkle the sack before releasing them. I shook handfuls of water over them. Drops big as bombs pounded their shelter, a mass baptism into our human ways. They did not buzz or beat their wings, but as the warmth of my house woke them, I saw a shifting of bodies, of muscles rippling, like waves adjusting themselves to a passing boat." Later: "Under the full moon I carried my guests to the afflicted catalpa waving its green flags." It's a fairly short poem created with such delicacy and precision that its little springs continue to live in my mind. I gave it 4 stars because I didn't love the other poems nearly as much as this one. But this may be why none of us should have the authority to give star ratings in the first place!

A nice collection of poems

I obtained this collection after reading some of the other writings by the author. It is a nice collection, with poems in different forms. The poems reflect various observations by the author, from eloping to walking on the beach. It has a total of 33 poems on 50 pages. It is a convenient size to tuck into a bag to take along on a trip, either commuting or traveling a longer distance (or maybe just going to the beach).