Grab Your Edition Terrapin: Poems By Wendell Berry Narrated By Wendell Berry Disseminated As Volume

Wendell Berry. The master of peaceful language, If you are reading this in March, you will know why we need Wendell Berry, This is not my usual poetry book, Its poetry is about woods and squirrels and winter nights, It has gorgeous illustrations which makes the poems that much more profound, A fine gift for those of you wanting to marvel at the beauty that is not human and yet seems to reflect us so well, I don't read much poetry, but the title and front cover couldn't help but catch my eye, Then when I turned to My Nose, I knew I had to read the whole thing, That poem is about a poor man who thinks his nose looks like an onion, and, well, I'll let you read the rest, This is the only volume of Wendell Berry poetry that I have read, and while I don't think that it will make history, there is an earthiness to it that is attractive.
I think it helps to be aware of the author's background as a farmer and environmental advocate, After reading the volume through once, I was surprised to read the back story about this book on the front jacket the same as the description of this book in Goodreads because it didn't seem at all like a children's book to me.
In retrospect, some of the poems seem very appropriate for children, such as the aforementioned My Nose, but others are quite sophisticated, such as The Sorrel Filly.
I prefer Berry's poetry to his other writings, and I freely admit that, He's a wonderful Kentucky poet, though, to be fair, when it comes to Kentucky authors writing about rural life, I'm a true Jesse Stuart fan, I appreciate what Berry does though, and I liked this one particularly well, Tom Pohrt spent years gathering those poems of Wendell Berrys he imagined children might read and appreciate, making sketches to accompany his selection, Over the past several years a dialogue has evolved in which the

poet has come to advise the illustrator on the natural history of the animals and plants seen so intimately in the poems.
Then came the august book designer Dave Bullen, who has been designing the books of Wendell Berry for more than thirty years,
The resulting volume ofpoems includes dozens of the sketches, drawings and watercolors in what amounts to a visual meditation on the poem they work to illustrate and is simply staggering in both its beauty and its meaning to those of us who remain lovers of the book as physical object.


In the fullcolor Terrapin we have not only a volume of staggering beauty but a consummate example of the collaborative effort that is fine bookmaking, the perfect gift for children, grandchildren or anyone who remains a lover of the book as physical object.

A nice little book of poetry and art, Very peaceful. My first introduction to Wendell Berry, I see many more Wendell Berry books in my future, A book of his poems, but meant for children Lovely and short I loved reading these thoughtful poems about nature, This is a collection of a small sample of Wendell Berry poems that are placed in an illustrated book, The book is quite nice, However, it is small and if you are a big Berry fan, you probably already have all of the poems elsewhere, Of course, if you're a big Berry fan, you'll want it for your collection, Simple, uncomplicated poems about Nature from the beloved author Wendell Berry, Very soothing when life is difficult, This is a beautiful physical object a book I would be proud to set on my shelf and welcome into my soul, A great book with lovely illustrations, Berry does what I look forward to in my poems, take the quotidian and elevate it to something almost mystical, A poetry book for children by one of America's greatest living poets who uses nature themes, Lovely illustrations. I loved the Terrapin piece but my favorite was The Woods, Simply put, THE most beautiful, breathtaking piece of art I have ever had the pleasure of picking up randomly at the public library, My first introduction to Wendell Berry, A slim collection ofpoems, each illustrated with watercolor, Poems focus on nature, animals, amp seasons, While nominally intended for children, some of the poems will be too much for young children, Yet the rhymes of some of the poems were too young for adults,

My fave poems were:
April Woods: Morning
To Know the Dark To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark, Go without sight
Fall
October

I enjoyed the paintings, they were a nice complement to the poems,

Read again but this time with Mary for our Tuesday tea! She enjoyed the illustrations I am not a huge fan of them but they are fine, and the poems were even better this time around.
Mary especially liked the one called “Winter Night Poem for Mary, ” I loved the simplicity of these poems, Terrapin is my favorite! The illustrations are wonderful as well, Terrapin and Other Poems is a book of poems selected by illustrator Tom Pohrt that he thought would be appropriate for children, They are not Berrys best poems, nor do I think they would be fast favorites with children, but the poems are good, they are imbued with Berrys vision, which I like, and coupling his poems with Pohrts lovely watercolor illustrations makes this a fine book.


Part of my liking this book is that I met Pohrt once in Ann Arbor, through his brother Karl who owned an independent bookstorewithasoul there, I knew Karl pretty well for the five years I lived there, When I saw this book was illustrated by Tom I picked it up to read when I opened it I saw the book is dedicated to the memory of his brother Karl! RIP, Karl! I hadnt known! Why do we warm to certain books Sometimes it doesnt have to do with the words, its a peripheral thing like this.
I might have rated thiswere it not for the small personal connection,

But heres two good poems from the book,

The Finches

The ears stung with cold
and frost of dawn
in early April, comes
the song of winter finches,
their crimson bright, then
dark as they move into
and then against the light.

May the year warm them
soon, May they soon go
north with their singing
and the seasons to follow,
May the bare sticks soon
live, and our minds go free
of the ground
into the shining of trees,

To Know the Dark

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light,
To know the dark, go dark, go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.


Poetry Foundation Bio of Berry:

sitelink poetryfoundation. org/poem
This short book gathers some of Wendell Berry's short, more accessible poems that the illustrator Tom Pohrt believed children would enjoy and appreciate, Pohrt provided beautiful watercolor and sketch illustrations for each, The result is a lovely book, Those familiar with Berry will know what to expect, particularly his appreciation of the natural world, This is a lovely volume of poems by Wendell Berry, especially chosen with children in mind, but any reader should enjoy, I cannot wait to read these poems to my child, I love much of Berry's poetry, and he, along with illustrator Tom Pohrt have selected some of Berry's poems or even condensed versions that would appeal to children.
Most of them center on nature the seasons changing, the woods, interactions with animals, some center on introspective ideas, and one silly poem is about Berry's nose, The illustrations further support the wonder apparent in the poems,

I don't think I'd read this to a child covertocover, but would instead choose poems based on the coming fall, or their first horse ride, or Arbor Day or whatever.


A lovely book, .