What Nature: The Future of Ecopoetics

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Poetry and critical essays that grapple with the intersection of natural and cultural crises.

In an age of record-breaking superstorms and environmental degradation, What Nature seeks -- through poetry and critical essays -- to make sense of how we interact with and are influenced by nature. This collection includes new work from such acclaimed poets as Natalie Diaz, winner of the Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry, and Pulitzer Prize winner Jorie Graham, whose poetry often explores the consequences of global warming by creating overgrown, apocalyptic futures.

Shifting its focus from what has already been lost to what lies ahead, What Nature rejects the sentimentality of traditional nature poetry. Instead, its texts expose and resist the global iniquities that create large-scale human suffering, a world where climate change disproportionately affects the poorest communities. The intersection of natural and cultural crises -- like Standing Rock's fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the water crisis in Flint, Michigan -- are confronted head on. These poems, lyric essays, and hybrid works grapple with political unrest, refugeeism, and resource exploitation, transforming the genre of ecopoetics.

Contributors include Natalie Diaz, Mark Doty, and Jorie Graham