The Blue Rock Collection

by Forrest Gander, Rikki Ducornet (Illustrator)

Uses geology, as a means for exploring what it is we stand on and for - emotionally, psychologically, and politically. The author is interested in what science and its logics have to offer us, and makes a case for the vitality and necessity of other modes for making sense and experiencing meaning in a fragile world, among others.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Born in the Mojave Desert, Forrest Gander grew up in Virginia and spent significant periods in San Francisco, Dolores Hidalgo (Mexico), and Eureka Springs, Arkansas before moving to Rhode Island. He holds degrees in literature and in geology, a subject that recurs in his writing and for which his work has been connected to ecological poetics.

Collaboration has been an important engagement for Gander who, over the years, has worked with artists such as Ann Hamilton, Sally Mann, Eiko & Koma, Lucas Foglia, Ashwini Bhat, Richard Hirsch & Michael Rogers. He also translates extensively and has edited several anthologies of contemporary poetry from Latin America, Spain, and Japan.

He writes across the genres. A recent project with the Chilean poet Raul Zurita is Pinholes in the Night Essential Poems from Latin America. Other titles by Gander include The Trace, a novel set on the border with Mexico; Fungus Skull Eye Wing Selected Poems of Alfonso D'Aquino, translations; and Redstart an Ecological Poetics, essays and poems written with John Kinsella. Gander's 2011 book of poems, Core Samples from the World, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

So-so. I guess I had high hopes for this one, but it wasn't really impacting, just ok.