What do you think?
Rate this book
Turtle Island
Describing the title of his collection of poetry and occasional prose pieces, Gary Snyder writes in his introductory note that Turtle Island is "the old/new name for the continent, based on many creation myths of the people who have been here for millennia, and reapplied by some of them to 'North America' in recent years." The nearly five dozen poems in the book range from the lucid, lyrical, almost mystical to the mytho-biotic, while a few are frankly political. All, however, share a common vision: a rediscovery of this land, and the ways by which we might become natives of the place, ceasing to think and act (after all these centuries) as newcomers and invaders.
Of particular interest is the full text of the ever more relevant "Four Changes," Snyder's seminal manifesto for environmental awareness.
Of particular interest is the full text of the ever more relevant "Four Changes," Snyder's seminal manifesto for environmental awareness.
112 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
Gary Snyder
292 books608 followersGary Snyder is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology". Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the American Book Award. His work, in his various roles, reflects an immersion in both Buddhist spirituality and nature. He has translated literature into English from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder was an academic at the University of California, Davis, and for a time served as a member of the California Arts Council.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews
September 4, 2024
My Favorite collection of Snyder's poetry.
For All
Gary Snyder
Ah to be alive
on a mid-September morn
fording a stream
barefoot, pants rolled up,
holding boots, pack on,
sunshine, ice in the shallows,
northern rockies.
Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes
cold nose dripping
singing inside
creek music, heart music,
smell of sun on gravel.
I pledge allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the soil
of Turtle Island,
and to the beings who thereon dwell
one ecosystem
in diversity
under the sun
With joyful interpenetration for all.
For All
Gary Snyder
Ah to be alive
on a mid-September morn
fording a stream
barefoot, pants rolled up,
holding boots, pack on,
sunshine, ice in the shallows,
northern rockies.
Rustle and shimmer of icy creek waters
stones turn underfoot, small and hard as toes
cold nose dripping
singing inside
creek music, heart music,
smell of sun on gravel.
I pledge allegiance
I pledge allegiance to the soil
of Turtle Island,
and to the beings who thereon dwell
one ecosystem
in diversity
under the sun
With joyful interpenetration for all.
August 12, 2011
One of many, many under-mentioned, under-appreciated texts of the Beat generation's impact on writing. Burroughs, be he successful, enigmatic and insanely smart, had too much self-destruction and hatred in him to consciously benefit anybody besides himself. I read some of his novels and just didn't appreciate the sarcasm, irony, cynicism, anger, spite, whatever you want to call it...Burroughs shot his own wife. As a bar trick. The fact that he got away with it, I think, is what makes a lot of people respect and fear his writing.
Here I am, writing about Burroughs in my Snyder review...weird. I should have read Gary Snyder a long, long time before reading Ginsberg, Bukowski, Burroughs, Kerouac, Tom Wolfe...I'd guess there were a lot of other writers working during that time. I'd recommend almost anyone besides the names you most commonly hear in association with the Beat movement, in order to study the beats- it helps to know what they were writing against.
Fresh air has a value you can not quantify.
Sunlight has a warmth you can not explain.
wind has a strength you can not identify.
Snyder knows all of these things...Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg...I don't know.
I thought, after re-reading this, I would add a rebuttal to my rebuttal, from Wikipedia:
Several literary critics treated Burroughs's work harshly. For example Anatole Broyard and Philip Toynbee wrote devastating reviews of some of his most important books. In a short essay entitled "A Review of the Reviewers", Burroughs answers his critics in this way:
Critics constantly complain that writers are lacking in standards, yet they themselves seem to have no standards other than personal prejudice for literary criticism. (...) such standards do exist. Matthew Arnold set up three criteria for criticism: 1. What is the writer trying to do? 2. How well does he succeed in doing it? (...) 3. Does the work exhibit "high seriousness"? That is, does it touch on basic issues of good and evil, life and death and the human condition. I would also apply a fourth criterion (...) Write about what you know. More writers fail because they try to write about things they don't know than for any other reason.
—William S. Burroughs, "A Review of the Reviewers
Zing!
Here I am, writing about Burroughs in my Snyder review...weird. I should have read Gary Snyder a long, long time before reading Ginsberg, Bukowski, Burroughs, Kerouac, Tom Wolfe...I'd guess there were a lot of other writers working during that time. I'd recommend almost anyone besides the names you most commonly hear in association with the Beat movement, in order to study the beats- it helps to know what they were writing against.
Fresh air has a value you can not quantify.
Sunlight has a warmth you can not explain.
wind has a strength you can not identify.
Snyder knows all of these things...Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg...I don't know.
I thought, after re-reading this, I would add a rebuttal to my rebuttal, from Wikipedia:
Several literary critics treated Burroughs's work harshly. For example Anatole Broyard and Philip Toynbee wrote devastating reviews of some of his most important books. In a short essay entitled "A Review of the Reviewers", Burroughs answers his critics in this way:
Critics constantly complain that writers are lacking in standards, yet they themselves seem to have no standards other than personal prejudice for literary criticism. (...) such standards do exist. Matthew Arnold set up three criteria for criticism: 1. What is the writer trying to do? 2. How well does he succeed in doing it? (...) 3. Does the work exhibit "high seriousness"? That is, does it touch on basic issues of good and evil, life and death and the human condition. I would also apply a fourth criterion (...) Write about what you know. More writers fail because they try to write about things they don't know than for any other reason.
—William S. Burroughs, "A Review of the Reviewers
Zing!
November 16, 2012
Sometimes I think I like the idea of Gary Snyder as poet more than I enjoy reading the actual poetry. Still, there are moments of descriptive clarity in this classic that really hit you (in a good way). In his final (prose) part to Turtle Island, in the piece titled "Wilderness", Snyder writes:
"The reason I am here is because I wish to bring a voice from the wilderness, my constituency. I wish to be a spokesman for a realm that is not usually represented either in intellectual chambers or in the chambers of government." With that in mind, his poems are to be cherished.
Coming back to this, three years later, I'm struck by the prose piece, "Four Changes": written in 1974, it reads like a page from the current pleas/warnings concerning climate change. The Zen poet was ahead of his time (and right in the middle of it, at the same time).
"The reason I am here is because I wish to bring a voice from the wilderness, my constituency. I wish to be a spokesman for a realm that is not usually represented either in intellectual chambers or in the chambers of government." With that in mind, his poems are to be cherished.
Coming back to this, three years later, I'm struck by the prose piece, "Four Changes": written in 1974, it reads like a page from the current pleas/warnings concerning climate change. The Zen poet was ahead of his time (and right in the middle of it, at the same time).
April 22, 2012
Am revisiting Gary Snyder's poetry, the subject of my bachelors thesis, during subway rides. This book especially was so formative for me. Reading it is like praying.
February 16, 2024
I can think of few poets alive who describe nature more beautifully than Gary Snyder does in his 1974 poetry collection "Turtle Island", or whose overall life philosophy matches mine closer. It is even more impressive considering that "Turtle Island" also doubles as an environmentalist polemic, with Snyder even including an essay spelling out his exact political ideology in minute detail (not all of which I agree with mind you), and I find most self-consciously political poetry to be extremely boring!
Yet, Snyder manages to write explicitly polemical poetry here that absolutely soars on an aesthetic level as well. The sense of North America's ecosystems functioning as a holistic circuit from a scientific perspective and a religious awe at the forces of the universe at work is something Snyder flips elegantly between in so many poems here - and making it clear those are just the same patterns reflected through different lenses. In particular I remember the loving descriptions of the North American West Coast's landscapes, the anecdotes from the author's life with his family and the odes to the Pueblo Indians' culture as highlights as well as poems listing the different mushroom species on the West Coast right down to whether or not they are edible to say nothing of the ode to the American curlew. (a spectacularly odd-looking wading bird)
My favourite poem in here has to be the one about the North American continent - called Turtle Island by several of its indigenous peoples hence the book's title - describing its existence from geological pre-history to now. Complete with going through all the plants, animals and human cultures that have inhabited Turtle Island through the continent's lifetime, as well as Snyder's thoughts on humanity's place in the cosmos. This could have ended up as extremely clumsily written in most other poets' handling but it's one of the most elegant pieces of lyrical writing I have encountered.
I don't agree with all of the political analysis in the attached essay but who said I ever had to do so in order to find beauty and insight in here? At the end of the day this is a very impressive work and one of those poetry collections I've read that work the best as a coherent whole with a consistent philosophy binding it all together.
Yet, Snyder manages to write explicitly polemical poetry here that absolutely soars on an aesthetic level as well. The sense of North America's ecosystems functioning as a holistic circuit from a scientific perspective and a religious awe at the forces of the universe at work is something Snyder flips elegantly between in so many poems here - and making it clear those are just the same patterns reflected through different lenses. In particular I remember the loving descriptions of the North American West Coast's landscapes, the anecdotes from the author's life with his family and the odes to the Pueblo Indians' culture as highlights as well as poems listing the different mushroom species on the West Coast right down to whether or not they are edible to say nothing of the ode to the American curlew. (a spectacularly odd-looking wading bird)
My favourite poem in here has to be the one about the North American continent - called Turtle Island by several of its indigenous peoples hence the book's title - describing its existence from geological pre-history to now. Complete with going through all the plants, animals and human cultures that have inhabited Turtle Island through the continent's lifetime, as well as Snyder's thoughts on humanity's place in the cosmos. This could have ended up as extremely clumsily written in most other poets' handling but it's one of the most elegant pieces of lyrical writing I have encountered.
I don't agree with all of the political analysis in the attached essay but who said I ever had to do so in order to find beauty and insight in here? At the end of the day this is a very impressive work and one of those poetry collections I've read that work the best as a coherent whole with a consistent philosophy binding it all together.
February 15, 2022
These are not bad poems. They’re thoughtful, well constructed, and laudable in their ecological and political message. And most of them leave me completely cold. This is cerebral rather than emotional poetry, engaging the brain without touching the heart.
There are a few exceptions. When Snyder wrote about his family, his children and wife, as in his poem The Bath some warmth entered his writing. And in As For Poets, the one truly exceptional poem I found in the collection, he reached a burning poetic intensity that is unmatched in the rest of the collection.
I’m not happy giving this volume a two star review. Snyder is a famed modern poet, a loose associate of the Beat Generation, an impassioned advocate for responsible ecological policy and living. But even giving it a “three stars I liked it” review would be dishonest. Truth is that having finished this collection I’m unlikely to every pick up another of his.
There are a few exceptions. When Snyder wrote about his family, his children and wife, as in his poem The Bath some warmth entered his writing. And in As For Poets, the one truly exceptional poem I found in the collection, he reached a burning poetic intensity that is unmatched in the rest of the collection.
I’m not happy giving this volume a two star review. Snyder is a famed modern poet, a loose associate of the Beat Generation, an impassioned advocate for responsible ecological policy and living. But even giving it a “three stars I liked it” review would be dishonest. Truth is that having finished this collection I’m unlikely to every pick up another of his.
April 6, 2011
Gary Snyder’s Turtle Island an exceptional book of poetry that is filled with fabulous images of nature that only a poet the quality of Snyder could pull off. He blends his Earthly imagery with his straightforward writing style to tell the truth in a way that seems to get the point across harder that a sledgehammer yet it sounds as beautiful as a sunrise on the beach. I mean not only does Snyder deliver incredible verse after incredible verse in the book but the title on the book also stands for something of great importance. Turtle Island stands for the continent of North America and stems from the name the Native Americans of North America gave their homeland and it is important to Snyder because it suggests a view of North America not merely as a land "discovered" and colonized by people of European descent, but as a land inhabited and stewarded by a collection of rich, diverse, and civilized peoples.
Snyder uses many techniques to convey meaning in his poems. One of my favorite poems in the book is “Mother Earth: Her Whales.” This poem uses a morose tone and relatable images to describe how people are destroying Earth. One of the most powerful lines being “The robots argue how to parcel out our Mother Earth / to last a little longer / like vultures flapping / belching, gurgling / near a dying Doe,” which is a strong image on how the world leaders are essentially fighting over how to continue reaping and using Earth’s resources until they run out. While this book was published in 1974 this image still remains as much if not more pertinent today.
In other poems Snyder chooses to use a more upbeat tone and he seems to take a more positive outlook towards the future. Interestingly enough, and I don’t think by accident, the poem that illustrates this most is towards the end of the book and entitled “For The Children.” In this poem Snyder states "To climb these coming crests / one word to you to / you and your children: / stay together / learn the flowers / go light," which I think is a very positive and uplifting image and also a very powerful statement. Snyder is pushing the next generation and the generation after them to work together and to “learn the flowers,” which I think means study nature in general. Snyder says this is what the coming generations need to do in order to “climb these coming crests,” which could be any number of the problems society is facing now, one of the main ones concurrent with Snyder’s poetry is the threat of global warming’s effect on the Earth.
It’s no wonder Snyder won a Pulitzer Prize for Turtle Island and that the book has been called “our generation’s Walden.” Gary Snyder is an incredible author who can do incredible things when given a pen and paper and this book has just added another favorite author to my list of all time greats.
Snyder uses many techniques to convey meaning in his poems. One of my favorite poems in the book is “Mother Earth: Her Whales.” This poem uses a morose tone and relatable images to describe how people are destroying Earth. One of the most powerful lines being “The robots argue how to parcel out our Mother Earth / to last a little longer / like vultures flapping / belching, gurgling / near a dying Doe,” which is a strong image on how the world leaders are essentially fighting over how to continue reaping and using Earth’s resources until they run out. While this book was published in 1974 this image still remains as much if not more pertinent today.
In other poems Snyder chooses to use a more upbeat tone and he seems to take a more positive outlook towards the future. Interestingly enough, and I don’t think by accident, the poem that illustrates this most is towards the end of the book and entitled “For The Children.” In this poem Snyder states "To climb these coming crests / one word to you to / you and your children: / stay together / learn the flowers / go light," which I think is a very positive and uplifting image and also a very powerful statement. Snyder is pushing the next generation and the generation after them to work together and to “learn the flowers,” which I think means study nature in general. Snyder says this is what the coming generations need to do in order to “climb these coming crests,” which could be any number of the problems society is facing now, one of the main ones concurrent with Snyder’s poetry is the threat of global warming’s effect on the Earth.
It’s no wonder Snyder won a Pulitzer Prize for Turtle Island and that the book has been called “our generation’s Walden.” Gary Snyder is an incredible author who can do incredible things when given a pen and paper and this book has just added another favorite author to my list of all time greats.
April 4, 2017
Gary Snyder is the man.
January 19, 2022
I didn't love the poems—probably one in five really resonated with me—but the five short essays at the end are beautifully well written, argumentative, and won me over.
December 12, 2008
All these years and I hadn't read this one until now. I like it not only from an "eco-poetry" angle, but also to look back on the 30+ years since it was written and consider what effect it has had on the American environmentalist movement--and on poets who have come (and gone) after Snyder. I recognize his style in other poets--definitely a huge influence.
Read
January 1, 2020I'm reading through Lithub's 365 Books to Start Your Climate Change Library, a reading list in four sections (Classics, Science, Fiction & Poetry, and Ideas). This book is #2 of Part 1: The Classics and #14 overall.
I don't know if I got much from the poetry - which is generally the case with me & poetry, but may also be because I kinda zoomed through this to meet my year-end reading goal - but the essays at the end of the book, especially "Four Changes" are well worth reading, if a bit dated. Also there's something deeply sad about reading environmentalist writing from the seventies, knowing how little has been done and how much worse things have gotten.
I don't know if I got much from the poetry - which is generally the case with me & poetry, but may also be because I kinda zoomed through this to meet my year-end reading goal - but the essays at the end of the book, especially "Four Changes" are well worth reading, if a bit dated. Also there's something deeply sad about reading environmentalist writing from the seventies, knowing how little has been done and how much worse things have gotten.
September 21, 2017
2.5 stars. More to come later.
The low rating does not mean I disliked all the poems. There were a few superb poems in this collection that I definitely connected with. Snyder definitely has talent; at his best, his verse has a gorgeous simplicity.
Unfortunately, too many of the poems in this collection serve merely as a vehicle for imparting political information. I have nothing against political poetry in general ... I love books by Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and others. The problem in Snyder's case is that several of the poems feel like non-fiction nuggets with randomly added line breaks. That's not the sort of poetry I prefer, hence the rating.
The low rating does not mean I disliked all the poems. There were a few superb poems in this collection that I definitely connected with. Snyder definitely has talent; at his best, his verse has a gorgeous simplicity.
Unfortunately, too many of the poems in this collection serve merely as a vehicle for imparting political information. I have nothing against political poetry in general ... I love books by Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, and others. The problem in Snyder's case is that several of the poems feel like non-fiction nuggets with randomly added line breaks. That's not the sort of poetry I prefer, hence the rating.
March 6, 2023
Gary Snyder’s way for advocating for ecological community is so beautiful to me. Giving a voice to that which is overlooked is always a beautiful feat. I particularly enjoyed the end of the book’s “Four Changes”. Highly inspiring and thought provoking. Motivational force in making the world a better place.
August 26, 2021
4.4 to 4.6
Essential thoughts, in the poems and the essay at the end.
Gary Snyder is still alive, at least as far as we know.
If you don't know about him yet, your college English professors failed you.
I hadn't read him in years, and it was nice to sit and read a whole book over a few days and just think.
Oh, humans.
Essential thoughts, in the poems and the essay at the end.
Gary Snyder is still alive, at least as far as we know.
If you don't know about him yet, your college English professors failed you.
I hadn't read him in years, and it was nice to sit and read a whole book over a few days and just think.
Oh, humans.
July 1, 2021
A few years after “Turtle Island” won the Pulitzer Prize in 1975, I had the pleasure of hearing Gary Snyder read from it at a fundraiser for a Santa Cruz alternative high school. I picked it up again after rereading “The Dharma Bums,” Jack Kerouac’s book about his friendship with Snyder. It is still as charming and relevant today as it was almost 40 years ago.
“Turtle Island” refers to how Native American creation myths describe the North American continent: a combination of watersheds, plant zones, life-communities and cultures. A person is not a separate “more evolved” entity, but shares space and consciousness with animals, plants, physical environments, and other humans. Snyder’s beautifully evocative imagery speaks to the heart of anyone who has enjoyed time in nature. He urges us to become good stewards of nature.
Snyder writes with an economy of words, choosing his phrases exactly and never over-describing. His direct, “plain speech” style can be understood by anyone: scientists and children as well as poetry afficionados. It’s particularly evocative when read aloud and listened to lightly, enjoying the imagery without trying to grasp every detail.
There’s a lot about nature, some political activism, a bit of alternative family lifestyle, and a much good thought in this volume. Some poems are hard-hitting commentary on topics like strip mining, overconsumption, and war, succinctly stated for your consideration. Others are about sojourns into the wilderness or contemplative walks around the SF Bay Area with friends. Some involve Native American myth and culture, a subject that Snyder researched as part of his anthropology degree. A few are about his children and wife and their lives together. As befits the title, most poems are about natural ecosystems and ways that people fit (or don’t fit) into them. The final section, a bit dated yet thought-provoking, contains three short contemplative essays.
Although I hesitate to quote only part of a poem because context is important, the concluding verses of “For the Children” nicely sum up the overall theme of this book:
“To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:
stay together
learn the flowers
go light”
Anyone who loves being in nature and has a desire to preserve the wilderness will enjoy this book, whether or not they usually read poetry.
“Turtle Island” refers to how Native American creation myths describe the North American continent: a combination of watersheds, plant zones, life-communities and cultures. A person is not a separate “more evolved” entity, but shares space and consciousness with animals, plants, physical environments, and other humans. Snyder’s beautifully evocative imagery speaks to the heart of anyone who has enjoyed time in nature. He urges us to become good stewards of nature.
Snyder writes with an economy of words, choosing his phrases exactly and never over-describing. His direct, “plain speech” style can be understood by anyone: scientists and children as well as poetry afficionados. It’s particularly evocative when read aloud and listened to lightly, enjoying the imagery without trying to grasp every detail.
There’s a lot about nature, some political activism, a bit of alternative family lifestyle, and a much good thought in this volume. Some poems are hard-hitting commentary on topics like strip mining, overconsumption, and war, succinctly stated for your consideration. Others are about sojourns into the wilderness or contemplative walks around the SF Bay Area with friends. Some involve Native American myth and culture, a subject that Snyder researched as part of his anthropology degree. A few are about his children and wife and their lives together. As befits the title, most poems are about natural ecosystems and ways that people fit (or don’t fit) into them. The final section, a bit dated yet thought-provoking, contains three short contemplative essays.
Although I hesitate to quote only part of a poem because context is important, the concluding verses of “For the Children” nicely sum up the overall theme of this book:
“To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:
stay together
learn the flowers
go light”
Anyone who loves being in nature and has a desire to preserve the wilderness will enjoy this book, whether or not they usually read poetry.
August 8, 2017
If you’re not a reader of latter-20th century American poetry, then maybe you’ve heard of Gary Snyder’s fictional doppelganger, Japhy Ryder, even if you haven’t heard of Snyder, himself. Ryder appears in Jack Kerouac’s “Dharma Bums” as a friend and mentor to Kerouac’s own fictional persona, Ray Smith. If you do remember Ryder, you have some insight into the themes that recur throughout this collection. Said themes include reverence for nature and an appeal to Eastern philosophical and religious traditions--most specifically Zen. Though there are other themes that you might not be expecting, such as fatherhood and the overarching theme of North America.
This collection consists of 63 pieces divided into four parts. Except for those of the last part, the pieces are all poetic. In other words, there are 58 poems and five short prose essays. The poems cover a lot of ground, though they are all free verse. Some of them are spare and others are prose poetry. They range from a few lines to a few pages. The vast majority of the poems put nature at the fore. Some have the tone of haiku—though not its form. By that I mean the tendency to describe without letting in analysis or judgement, attempting to offer a pure reflection of scenes from nature. There are some points at which Snyder veers into political commentary, e.g. with lists of statistics—some of which have no meaning as written (see: “Fact” the first piece in the section “Magpie’s Song”) and rants against the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR)--a technology that one suspects the poet knows no more about than does the reader. But for the most part the poems are portraits of North American wilderness, and can be enjoyed as such.
I found this collection to be enjoyable and evocative. Snyder transports one into North America’s great outdoors. I’d recommend this work for poetry readers.
This collection consists of 63 pieces divided into four parts. Except for those of the last part, the pieces are all poetic. In other words, there are 58 poems and five short prose essays. The poems cover a lot of ground, though they are all free verse. Some of them are spare and others are prose poetry. They range from a few lines to a few pages. The vast majority of the poems put nature at the fore. Some have the tone of haiku—though not its form. By that I mean the tendency to describe without letting in analysis or judgement, attempting to offer a pure reflection of scenes from nature. There are some points at which Snyder veers into political commentary, e.g. with lists of statistics—some of which have no meaning as written (see: “Fact” the first piece in the section “Magpie’s Song”) and rants against the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR)--a technology that one suspects the poet knows no more about than does the reader. But for the most part the poems are portraits of North American wilderness, and can be enjoyed as such.
I found this collection to be enjoyable and evocative. Snyder transports one into North America’s great outdoors. I’d recommend this work for poetry readers.
April 4, 2013
I Went into the Maverick Bar
BY GARY SNYDER
I went into the Maverick Bar
In Farmington, New Mexico.
And drank double shots of bourbon
backed with beer.
My long hair was tucked up under a cap
I’d left the earring in the car.
Two cowboys did horseplay
by the pool tables,
A waitress asked us
where are you from?
a country-and-western band began to play
“We don’t smoke Marijuana in Muskokie”
And with the next song,
a couple began to dance.
They held each other like in High School dances
in the fifties;
I recalled when I worked in the woods
and the bars of Madras, Oregon.
That short-haired joy and roughness—
America—your stupidity.
I could almost love you again.
We left—onto the freeway shoulders—
under the tough old stars—
In the shadow of bluffs
I came back to myself,
To the real work, to
“What is to be done.”
BY GARY SNYDER
I went into the Maverick Bar
In Farmington, New Mexico.
And drank double shots of bourbon
backed with beer.
My long hair was tucked up under a cap
I’d left the earring in the car.
Two cowboys did horseplay
by the pool tables,
A waitress asked us
where are you from?
a country-and-western band began to play
“We don’t smoke Marijuana in Muskokie”
And with the next song,
a couple began to dance.
They held each other like in High School dances
in the fifties;
I recalled when I worked in the woods
and the bars of Madras, Oregon.
That short-haired joy and roughness—
America—your stupidity.
I could almost love you again.
We left—onto the freeway shoulders—
under the tough old stars—
In the shadow of bluffs
I came back to myself,
To the real work, to
“What is to be done.”
Read
March 2, 2021A Beat poet, a Buddhist, and an environmental activist walk into a bar. Except they are all One.
Jokes aside, this has been some of my favorite poetry ever. Some of the poems deal with injustice towards the environment or the First People. I've found those to be tragic and touching and, while unequivocal in intent, they also manage to stand on their own. Others speak of "fundamental" parts of us we often neglect, either because we are not capable of connecting with them anymore or because we'd rather look the other way. Recognizing that we are just overly complex animals is uncomfortable, but Snyder takes you to that uncomfortable, visceral place when he remembers bathing with his wife and son, and describes how their bodies react to each other's. Other times he does it more gently by reminding us of how, like all other animals, we are not separate from each other and from this planet we inhabit and abuse.
Jokes aside, this has been some of my favorite poetry ever. Some of the poems deal with injustice towards the environment or the First People. I've found those to be tragic and touching and, while unequivocal in intent, they also manage to stand on their own. Others speak of "fundamental" parts of us we often neglect, either because we are not capable of connecting with them anymore or because we'd rather look the other way. Recognizing that we are just overly complex animals is uncomfortable, but Snyder takes you to that uncomfortable, visceral place when he remembers bathing with his wife and son, and describes how their bodies react to each other's. Other times he does it more gently by reminding us of how, like all other animals, we are not separate from each other and from this planet we inhabit and abuse.
January 4, 2015
I had heard that Gary Snyder was a great poet and he was one of the healthiest of the Beats, a lifelong devout lover of the Great Spirit and one of the main subjects of Kerouac's "The Dharma Bums", one of Jack's best books. I've read most of the poems from "Turtle Island" (planet Earth) so far - really great, very serene. This looks to be one of the most virtuosic books of poetry I've read since Raymond Carver or Snyder's pals Kerouac & Ginsberg. This kind of poetry is why the form is amazing - when it's done like Snyder does it here, it's visionary, cosmic, and life-altering - rich with wisdom, compassion, and towering beauty.
More of this review to come when I finish the book.
More of this review to come when I finish the book.
July 24, 2008
This 1975 book of poems (with a little "straight talk" in prose at the end) won a Pulitzer and has, heaven forbid, Historical Significance as an authentically North American work of art. The caucasian author assembles an authentic convergence of native American and American Zen spirituality with the emerging ecological awareness of its time.
Every page roars with passion for the planet, all of her flora and fauna, and certainly for her human children.
Every page roars with passion for the planet, all of her flora and fauna, and certainly for her human children.
August 6, 2021
Of course, Snyder is a major poet of the contemporary era. His poetry has won him several prizes, including the Pulitzer, and is a model of place based writing.
Snyder is considered a major influence on the direction of poetry. His work comes forth from the landscape, his family, and his life in the Pacific Northwest, along with his scholarship in Asian languages and Zen and time spent inHe is an Japan.
His works are a home to deep ecology of the sort found in the Council of All Beings.
Snyder is considered a major influence on the direction of poetry. His work comes forth from the landscape, his family, and his life in the Pacific Northwest, along with his scholarship in Asian languages and Zen and time spent inHe is an Japan.
His works are a home to deep ecology of the sort found in the Council of All Beings.
June 15, 2021
Can you "rediscover" something that is very familiar? If you think not... you need to settle in with Turtle Island and let Gary Snyder show you the very familiar in an entirely new light. The poems felt sacred and almost prayer-like as I read them. This book also gives you a pretty big gut punch with his words on the colonization of North America, yet the poems also give us hope, direction, and a new sense of wonder. I highly recommend.
May 30, 2022
"He has been described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology".
From Wikipedia
I concur.
From Wikipedia
I concur.
December 22, 2015
Up here
out back
drink deep
that black light.
out back
drink deep
that black light.
April 16, 2023
I'm staying on a farm in Costa Rica and brought a couple of Kerouac books as gifts for the owner, Miguel. One of the books, The Dharma Bums, is about his adventures with Gary Snyder, who he calls 'Japhy Ryder' in the book. Miguel had this book sitting on his bookshelf (which sits in a house with no walls, exposed to the humidity and harsh weather and the pages are all brown and aged) and suggested I read it.
The general idea is vaguely interesting and he has good intentions but with the hindsight of time passed since publication, it's not hard to point out the problems of his theories and philosophies.
Through a series of poems followed by some explanatory prose, Snyder preaches that all natural life, animal, plant, and everything in between, is of equal sacridity to humans. He explores some interesting (but misguided) opinions on the way humans are impacting the Earth. It all sounds well and good and the poems were somewhat enjoyable (there's a good one about mushrooms!) until in the explanatory prose towards the end he radically suggests a mandatory limit on parents having one child. He says we need to limit the human population and reduce it by more than half. Of course, with the hindsight of China's one child policy, we know the disastrous, oppressive consequences of governments enforcing such a policy.
He also seems to be neck deep in the myths (that I guess was just being born around time of publication) around the dangers of nuclear power. He's very staunchly anti-nuclear power on the grounds of their safety and the danger the pose to nature. Again, with hindsight we know nuclear power is one of the cleanest sources of energy. He also slates solar, wind, and tidal energy, claiming they will never be able to supply demand in the way fossil-fuels do.
I guess it could have been an interesting read when it was published, perhaps it was eyebrow raising and even maybe controversial at the time, but this one just hasn't passed the test of time for me. Understood in its context, it's an interesting approach and perspective but, in my opinion, not much more.
The general idea is vaguely interesting and he has good intentions but with the hindsight of time passed since publication, it's not hard to point out the problems of his theories and philosophies.
Through a series of poems followed by some explanatory prose, Snyder preaches that all natural life, animal, plant, and everything in between, is of equal sacridity to humans. He explores some interesting (but misguided) opinions on the way humans are impacting the Earth. It all sounds well and good and the poems were somewhat enjoyable (there's a good one about mushrooms!) until in the explanatory prose towards the end he radically suggests a mandatory limit on parents having one child. He says we need to limit the human population and reduce it by more than half. Of course, with the hindsight of China's one child policy, we know the disastrous, oppressive consequences of governments enforcing such a policy.
He also seems to be neck deep in the myths (that I guess was just being born around time of publication) around the dangers of nuclear power. He's very staunchly anti-nuclear power on the grounds of their safety and the danger the pose to nature. Again, with hindsight we know nuclear power is one of the cleanest sources of energy. He also slates solar, wind, and tidal energy, claiming they will never be able to supply demand in the way fossil-fuels do.
I guess it could have been an interesting read when it was published, perhaps it was eyebrow raising and even maybe controversial at the time, but this one just hasn't passed the test of time for me. Understood in its context, it's an interesting approach and perspective but, in my opinion, not much more.
December 11, 2022
Thrift-store and long-term bookshelf book. The cover says it won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1975?! Um, okay.
Of course, with the title and cover imagery, I assumed that I was purchasing the writings of an Indigenous First Nations writer; however, the writer is an earnest, let's-go-back-to-the-land white hippy who'd recently discovered and been excited by Eastern religions. So... yeah. In one cringey passage, the author is teaching to us the pre-hunt practices of the "Pueblo Indians...and I think probably most of the other Indians of the Southwest." Elsewhere, "...perhaps they avoid their wife for a few days." So, while you're teaching us about cultures that aren't yours to make a point PERHAPS you can not just imagine your own details about that culture and then tell us that these things MIGHT be true. Gah!
The book had its moments. Many of our political beliefs are in sync, and many are not. I did enjoy the earnestness of the prose section more when it stuck to concrete proposals of how the world needs to change, and when it wasn't descending into magical thinking and ascending into mind-bending outer-space age-of-aquarius talk.
There was some good poetry and some completely nonsensical / incomprehensible poetry. Overall, this really wasn't my kind of thing.
Of course, with the title and cover imagery, I assumed that I was purchasing the writings of an Indigenous First Nations writer; however, the writer is an earnest, let's-go-back-to-the-land white hippy who'd recently discovered and been excited by Eastern religions. So... yeah. In one cringey passage, the author is teaching to us the pre-hunt practices of the "Pueblo Indians...and I think probably most of the other Indians of the Southwest." Elsewhere, "...perhaps they avoid their wife for a few days." So, while you're teaching us about cultures that aren't yours to make a point PERHAPS you can not just imagine your own details about that culture and then tell us that these things MIGHT be true. Gah!
The book had its moments. Many of our political beliefs are in sync, and many are not. I did enjoy the earnestness of the prose section more when it stuck to concrete proposals of how the world needs to change, and when it wasn't descending into magical thinking and ascending into mind-bending outer-space age-of-aquarius talk.
There was some good poetry and some completely nonsensical / incomprehensible poetry. Overall, this really wasn't my kind of thing.
July 30, 2024
I’m sure this really hit in the ‘70s, but poetically and politically it just reads as a little too slack. The poetry is occasionally very good, but most of it has little relevance to today’s readers. Even when its imperatives are still solid, I’m a little sick of hearing them from this kind of guy, but maybe I’m just not one of the more “hip Marxists” he mentions. The stuff in the back is especially outdated, and though the urgency is nice, it seems sort of haphazard and misplaced even for the time. His “revolution of consciousness” seems a little naively utopian in the typical hippie way and not just because it’s half a century old, but because it’s a genuinely flawed political analysis. Even insofar as I agree with the ends of his political project (though I take issue with not a few of them, at least the way they have been portrayed here), the means seem to be either blind gestures towards consciousness-raising or the occasionally reactionary and always half-conceived policy proposals. The poetry is better, even the stuff about his kid’s scrotum and anus.
December 12, 2022
Turtle Island rightfully won the Pulitzer Prize in poetry in 1975. Snyder is a beat writer who wrote topics about the environment and the plight of Native Americans before his time. His poems and essays were lyrical and lucid. He rediscovered North America and his understanding of it is so clear that we can understand it as the natives. The title comes from a Native American term for the continent of North America. Snyder seeks to reclaim the organic and holistic environment and the harmony that once existed.
This was a compelling read. It captured the ancient wisdom that connects with the modern world. His words and truths are even more meaningful and relevant today. He can be described as the Father of the Environmental Movement. This was a soul searching and moving book.
This was a compelling read. It captured the ancient wisdom that connects with the modern world. His words and truths are even more meaningful and relevant today. He can be described as the Father of the Environmental Movement. This was a soul searching and moving book.
September 9, 2020
Read this by accident. It had been sitting on my bookshelf for years ever since I read Dharma Bums. Finally picked it up and read it in no specific order. The Plain Talk section in the back is really fascinating considering the topics and how long ago it was written.
Read
February 2, 2019Will need to read again, in paper form.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 165 reviews