Tess Taylor: Leaning Toward Light (Storey Publishing 2023)
This beautiful book is an anthology of verses on plants, gardens and gardening. It is intended for those who want to break away from the city a little and want to find their way back to the garden of their parents and grandparents and to the old days, when they could still spend time in the sunny yard.
Acclaimed poet and avid gardener Tess Taylor has selected contemporary and classic poems that praise connection with nature. In addition to American authors, the volume also contains poems by poets such as Virgil, Walt Whitman, Federico Garcia Lorca, John Keats and Czesław Miłosz. The idea comes from the fact that, like reading a good poem, taking care of plants is a source of comfort for many people. During the pandemic, many people returned to gardening out of necessity or to calm down and escape from the monotony of everyday life. However, in doing so, they discovered that not only do they take care of the garden, but the garden also takes care of them. As we read in The Secret Garden: „If you look the right way, you can see that the whole world is a garden.”
In the book, arranged by topic, you can also read about the poets’ own experiences related to personal gardens or food, and get to know a recipe. And the wonderful illustrations of Melissa Castrillón complete the experience.
Let’s read! Let’s go outside! Everyone needs light.
