Read An Exclusive Excerpt from Ada Límon’s Poetry Anthology, You Are Here
Hardcover $25.00
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World
You Are Here: Poetry in the Natural World
By Ada Limón
In Stock Online
Hardcover $25.00
Edited by Poet Laureate Ada Limón, this anthology of poetry is an ode to the natural world and the way we interact with it. Featuring 50 poems from some of our greatest voices.
Edited by Poet Laureate Ada Limón, this anthology of poetry is an ode to the natural world and the way we interact with it. Featuring 50 poems from some of our greatest voices.
We love Ada Límon and we couldn’t be more thrilled to celebrate the recent news of her selection as one of Time magazine’s 12 Women of the Year for 2024. If you haven’t caught our 24th Poet Laureate of the United States’ Poured Over episode with Miwa on The Hurting Kind we recommend giving it a listen (no, seriously, it’s so great). We’re taking a moment to share an excerpt from Ada’s introduction to You Are Here, a stunning collection from some of poetry’s most incredible voices.
From Ada’s introduction:
You might not know this, but poems are like trees in this way. They let us breathe together. In each line break, caesura, and stanza, there’s a place for us to breathe. Not unlike a redwood forest or a line of crepe myrtles in an otherwise cement landscape, poems can be a place to stop and remember that we too are living. W.S. Merwin wrote in his poem “Place”: “On the last day of the world, I would want to plant a tree.” I think I would add that I would also like to write a poem. Maybe I’d even write a poem about a tree?
When I was first asked what I wanted to create for a national poetry project during my tenure as the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States, I remember staring out the window of my office in the Library of Congress thinking, I just want us all to write poems and save the planet. I might have even said just that. And of course, that seemed impossible. A poem can seem so small, so minor, so invisible, especially when up against the daily crises and catastrophes that our planet is facing. And that’s not to mention the hardships that we each face both publicly and privately. How can a poem make a difference? How can a tree make a difference?
Perhaps the answer to those questions is that poetry and nature have a way of simply reminding us that we are not alone.