In her collection Holy Sparks (Paraclete Press, 2023), Diana Woodcock ruminates on the natural world, humans’ relationship to animals, and gives a voice to the voiceless. The opening poem, “The Ecopoet’s Prayer,” places responsibility onto the reader by gently commanding them to “Drop / the pronoun it and adopt s/he; / aspire to a higher level of thinking / about our nonhuman kin” (Woodcock 11). This line brought me back to a class I took during my junior year of college called “Plants and People.” The class was about the relationship between humans and the natural world, investigating and analyzing the ways in which humans have caused, and continue to cause, endless amounts of damage to the planet. During one class, we had discussed our reading which encouraged the reader to use the pronoun “kin” for non-humans. In her essay for YES! Magazine titled “Nature Needs a New Pronoun,” Robin Wall Kimmerer discusses the Anishinaabe roots in the pronouns “ki” (singular) and “kin” (plural) and how using these pronouns are revolutionary. “The Ecopoet’s Prayer” reminds me how poetry has the power to move a reader while advocating for an urgent issue like climate catastrophe.
Throughout the collection, Woodcock deliberately expresses appreciation and respect toward the natural world and the non-human beings we share this space with. In the poem “Called Out by Bulbuls,” the speaker describes how they “set out / a shallow pan filled with water, / a birdbath for the bulbul” (Woodcock 15). The speaker characterizes the act of extending kindness to bulbuls as a way of praying, which is so beautiful. Two stanzas later, the speaker writes about their communal experience of admiring the natural world: “Together we praised / the silent earth, her dark loam, / mold and sod, dust and dew” (Woodcock 15). Woodcock writes about the world with such fondness, such admiration, even in the face of the world falling apart in front of our very eyes because of corporations and billionaires.
I adore the way in which Woodcock writes about animals with the same level of interest and fascination as she does for humans. In the poem “Red-legged Kittiwakes,” I was mesmerized by the line “Seabirds whirled lovely as a company / of couples waltzing under a June moon” (Woodcock 23). What I found so lovely about this line is the humanness of it. The personification. The use of the word “waltzing.” How the seabirds are dancing under a summer moon, basking in joy just like humans do. In the poem “For the Birds Near the Arctic Circle,” the speaker writes about
“migrating birds trusting the ice to melt,
flowers and grasses to sprout through frozen tundra, trusting
in summer, in their nesting ground
to be intact.” (Woodcock 25)
I found this poem compelling because Woodcock describes the birds as having the ability to trust, humanizing them in a way. Through her writing, Woodcock gives a voice to animals, reminding readers that they trust the world around them just like humans do.
The titular poem opens with “Awakened early by two Palm doves / debating the possibility of mating / on the railing of my bedroom balcony, / I’m listening for dawn breezes” (Woodcock 31). This made me think about a lecture I saw Anne Carson do at Wellesley College called “On Hesitation.” She talked about frequently seeing a squirrel on her porch in the early mornings. How she wondered if, in the event of an apocalyptic disaster where she and the squirrel were the only two beings left on the planet, if they would share blueberries together. She wondered if the squirrel would hesitate, or if she would. If they would find solace in their mutual hesitation, if they would overcome their differences and share blueberries together. Reading Woodcock’s Holy Sparks has made me ruminate on how the world would change if humans extended more respect and warmth toward the creatures we share this earth with; has made me ask myself what I can do on an individual level to foster this change.
Holy Sparks is available from Paraclete Press
Annalisa Hansford’s poetry appears in The West Review, The Lumiere Review, Heavy Feather Review and has received honors from Academy of American Poets and 1455 Literary Arts. They studied poetry with Gabrielle Calvocoressi at the 2024 Kenyon Review Writers Workshop. They call for the liberation of Palestine, Congo, Sudan, and Haiti.
