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Cold Pastoral: Poems
FINALIST FOR THE MIDWEST BOOKSELLERS CHOICE AWARD (POETRY) A searing, urgent collection of poems that brings the lyric and documentary together in unparalleled ways—unmasking and examining the specter of manmade disaster. On September 20, 2010, an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed eleven men and began what would become the largest oil spill ever in US waters. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, leading to a death toll that is still unconfirmed. And in April 2014, the Flint water crisis began, exposing thousands of people to lead-contaminated drinking water. This is the litany of our time—and these are the events that Rebecca Dunham traces, passionately and brilliantly, in Cold Pastoral . In poems that incorporate interviews and excerpts from government documents and other sources—poems that adopt the pastoral and elegiac traditions in a landscape where “I can’t see the bugs; I don’t hear the birds”—Dunham invokes the poet as moral witness. “I owe him,” she writes of one man affected by the oil spill, “must learn, at last, how to look.” Experimental and incisive, Cold Pastoral is a collection that reveals what poetry can—and, perhaps, should—be, reflecting ourselves and our world back with gorgeous clarity.
80 pages, Paperback
Published March 14, 2017
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 7, 2017
Most nature poetry describes its beauty. Dunham tips that concept on its ear by focusing on nature in dismay and destruction, through the lens of three events - the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion, Hurricane Katrina, and the Flint water crisis. It seems as if she interviewed people and observed people directly (although that might be poetic license.)
Considering that the events described occurred while the EPA was still considered worth funding by the government, it was particularly difficult to read the poems within the current political climate.
Part of my 2017 National Poetry Month poetry binging!
Considering that the events described occurred while the EPA was still considered worth funding by the government, it was particularly difficult to read the poems within the current political climate.
Part of my 2017 National Poetry Month poetry binging!
May 19, 2017
The only thing worse than the disaster itself is what happens when the world decides it's over. All fixed. It's a fact any survivor knows.
Dunham's poetry is shattering and evocative. Her words encapsulated the sadness, anger, and hopelessness of the 2011 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. She includes smaller pieces on other "disasters" both natural and manmade, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Flint Water Crisis. The quote above - "when the world decides it's over" - hits hard, as the oil spill and Katrina have largely slipped out of focus (but no doubt still affecting the communities), and the Flint water crisis continues after the news cycle moves on...
Who will document the crisis that bleeds on and on?
Stylistically, she interspersed her verse with environmental reports, press releases, and interviews with families. A new investigative poetry? Something along those lines, and it works well.
This collection was hard to read, politically and socially. It made me remember. I thank Dunham for her documentation, and this consciousness, long after the world has considered it "all fixed".
Dunham's poetry is shattering and evocative. Her words encapsulated the sadness, anger, and hopelessness of the 2011 Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent oil spill. She includes smaller pieces on other "disasters" both natural and manmade, such as Hurricane Katrina and the Flint Water Crisis. The quote above - "when the world decides it's over" - hits hard, as the oil spill and Katrina have largely slipped out of focus (but no doubt still affecting the communities), and the Flint water crisis continues after the news cycle moves on...
Who will document the crisis that bleeds on and on?
Stylistically, she interspersed her verse with environmental reports, press releases, and interviews with families. A new investigative poetry? Something along those lines, and it works well.
This collection was hard to read, politically and socially. It made me remember. I thank Dunham for her documentation, and this consciousness, long after the world has considered it "all fixed".
June 11, 2017
REBECCA DUNHAM has created a collection of something very special. You might call them ecological-journalistic-memorial poetry. She tackles two devastating natural disasters in recent memory - the Category 5 Hurricane Katrina and the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting catastrophic oil spill. The cover of this collection is a photo, taken by environmental photojournalist Carrie Vonderhaar, of oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The poet spent time with survivors and family members of those who lost their lives in the disasters, read governmental reports, and visited the locations herself. Combining all of these sources, she is able to create some mesmerizing and heatbreaking works.
August 12, 2017
This is a striking collection of poetry, much of it centered around the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. I was surprised at how drawn in I was to this collection, as I'm hesitant about political poetry not written by CD Wright or Claudia Rankine -- but I'm glad I gave this a chance. "Suburban Elegy" is going to haunt me for a while, especially.
October 11, 2023
Docu-poetry is the best
March 8, 2017
The epigraph for Rebecca Dunham’s fourth book of poems, Cold Pastoral, is a quote by Muriel Rukeyser. It fits. Rukeyser, whose 1938 poem Book of the Dead chronicled the human cost of the Hawk’s Nest mining disaster, is a clear antecedent to Dunham’s poetry. Centering on the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Cold Pastoral investigates the human cost of these calamities with a deft hand. In the collection’s final poem, Dunham writes,
“Who will witness what follows danger’s first aftermath?
Who will document the crisis that bleeds on and on?”
In this case, the answer is Dunham herself. Throughout this formally ambitious book, she composes an extended heartfelt elegy for the lives and livelihoods lost to human-caused environmental disaster. For a relevant and clear-eyed book of confident and clear docu-/eco-poetry, it’s hard to do better than Rebecca Dunhman’s Cold Pastoral.
“Who will witness what follows danger’s first aftermath?
Who will document the crisis that bleeds on and on?”
In this case, the answer is Dunham herself. Throughout this formally ambitious book, she composes an extended heartfelt elegy for the lives and livelihoods lost to human-caused environmental disaster. For a relevant and clear-eyed book of confident and clear docu-/eco-poetry, it’s hard to do better than Rebecca Dunhman’s Cold Pastoral.
August 20, 2017
Dunham’s poetry comes to us at a desperate time. We currently face the ecological threats of global warming, as exacerbated by our human interactions with the world we inhabit. Pollution, over-population, and deforestation are serious hazards to our environment, and Dunham understands our human contribution to the problem. With her poems, she hopes to educate and inform readers of the very real consequences of forgetting to care for the Earth.
This collection examines the man-made and/or human-influenced natural disasters of our time: the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath, and the Flint water crisis. Dunham tactfully weaves desolate poems with evidenciary support, creating a powerful report on what really happened with the Oil Spill.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the BP oil disaster, theGulf of Mexico oil spill, and theMacondo blowout) began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. Eleven people went missing and were never found, and it is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on September 19, 2010.
“The Initial Report: Macondo Well” provides proof of BP’s knowledge of the potential dangers associated with the Macondo Well. Selections taken directly “from the required predrilling threat analysis” (26) detail what would happen in “worst case scenario”, identifying specific habitats and threatened or endangered species in the proposed activity area. Despite the research done in the report on the adverse affects it could pose to birds, fish and beaches, it asserts that it would be “unlikely that an accidental spill would occur” and that “few lethal effects are expected” (27).
Coincidentally, everything detailed in the Initial Report occurred as predicted. It is clear that BP blatantly ignored the environmental threats and even attempted to dismiss their impact and involvement in the disaster.
Dunham re-imagines the moment of disaster in dark poems, written ‘for’ specific individuals – witnesses and workers affected by the accident help her piece together images of the blowout – “because that’s what it looks like” (20).
The collection begins with “Mnemosyne to the Poet”, immediately connecting the poems to ancient understandings. Mnemosyne, the goddess mother to the nine muses, was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. As an opening to a collection that documents disaster—both man-made and ecological—Mnemosyne laments, “earth’s velvet mantle. So easy // for you to ignore” (3). The Earth is immediately introduced as an ignored memory, foreshadowing the desolation that Dunham describes in the remaining poems.
“All is fated / to extinction” (23)
Dunham’s poetry implies the death of the Earth. Elegys are written for the dead. Imagining the Earth as a desolate dystopia, with “nothing left” (8) due to deforestation. Trees are seen as a “casualty” (11) of this war on nature, or simply a monetary “toll” (12) paid to fuel the capitalist destruction of natural resources that comes with economic growth.
“BP and the Obama administration attacked the monster with chemical dispersants … only to have it break up into hundreds of millions of smaller, more terrible parts.” from There Lies The Hydra (40).
Dunham suggests we are blind to the problems before us: “the eye / filled with dirt. Mouth / Shut” (19). Our inability to see the crisis or speak up against the destruction is our biggest obstacle in fighting back.
Dunham understands our own human ignorance, decalring, “I thought I knew” (18). Recognizing that “we knew / Not what we did” (14), Dunham displays growth and change, hoping to make amends for actions committed with unknown consequences. For our mistakes, because we now know better, Dunham demands “No Excuses”. She wants readers to “unsheathe your sword and … Salvage this Earth” (14), suggesting a revolt is required to save the Earth.
Dunham appeals to the readers emotions, asking the audience to imagine themselves in the shoes of others: “She could be dead. Easily / she could be your daughter” (7). The use of “your” instantly connects readers to their own loved ones, allowing the audience to care as much as they would as if it were their own tragedy.
“Backyard Pastoral” draws a direct parallel between the daily risks we ignore and larger ecological dangers (such as the BP Oil spill), highlighting the way that we choose to ignore long-term dangers in favor of short-term solutions. In the same way that BP chose to believe that it would be “unlikely that an accidental spill would occur” (27) – despite all research in the report which predicted a spill – we stupidly choose to believe the lies on the back of dangerous toxic products (such as Roundup bug spray) that claim to be safe, knowing evidence in the real world suggests otherwise. “Used according to directions, Roundup poses no risk to people, animals, or the environment.” directly contradicts what will be read in the newspaper article later, that “Roundup can be the origin of a cancer” (45). This is a very real poem, which identifies daily behavior that has become normalized. Dunham recognizes the threats that disguise themselves as safe, and hope to illustrate their imperative danger. The daily toxic products we use are as bad as oil spills, if not worse.
Dunham makes it clear that beyond her and others’ personal experiences, humans have become subject to a ruin of their own making: “The only thing worse than the disaster itself is what happens when the world decides it’s over,” she writes. “All fixed. It’s a fact any survivor knows.”
This collection examines the man-made and/or human-influenced natural disasters of our time: the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, Hurricane Katrina and its devastating aftermath, and the Flint water crisis. Dunham tactfully weaves desolate poems with evidenciary support, creating a powerful report on what really happened with the Oil Spill.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the BP oil disaster, theGulf of Mexico oil spill, and theMacondo blowout) began on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico on the BP-operated Macondo Prospect. Eleven people went missing and were never found, and it is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on September 19, 2010.
“The Initial Report: Macondo Well” provides proof of BP’s knowledge of the potential dangers associated with the Macondo Well. Selections taken directly “from the required predrilling threat analysis” (26) detail what would happen in “worst case scenario”, identifying specific habitats and threatened or endangered species in the proposed activity area. Despite the research done in the report on the adverse affects it could pose to birds, fish and beaches, it asserts that it would be “unlikely that an accidental spill would occur” and that “few lethal effects are expected” (27).
Coincidentally, everything detailed in the Initial Report occurred as predicted. It is clear that BP blatantly ignored the environmental threats and even attempted to dismiss their impact and involvement in the disaster.
Dunham re-imagines the moment of disaster in dark poems, written ‘for’ specific individuals – witnesses and workers affected by the accident help her piece together images of the blowout – “because that’s what it looks like” (20).
The collection begins with “Mnemosyne to the Poet”, immediately connecting the poems to ancient understandings. Mnemosyne, the goddess mother to the nine muses, was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. As an opening to a collection that documents disaster—both man-made and ecological—Mnemosyne laments, “earth’s velvet mantle. So easy // for you to ignore” (3). The Earth is immediately introduced as an ignored memory, foreshadowing the desolation that Dunham describes in the remaining poems.
“All is fated / to extinction” (23)
Dunham’s poetry implies the death of the Earth. Elegys are written for the dead. Imagining the Earth as a desolate dystopia, with “nothing left” (8) due to deforestation. Trees are seen as a “casualty” (11) of this war on nature, or simply a monetary “toll” (12) paid to fuel the capitalist destruction of natural resources that comes with economic growth.
“BP and the Obama administration attacked the monster with chemical dispersants … only to have it break up into hundreds of millions of smaller, more terrible parts.” from There Lies The Hydra (40).
Dunham suggests we are blind to the problems before us: “the eye / filled with dirt. Mouth / Shut” (19). Our inability to see the crisis or speak up against the destruction is our biggest obstacle in fighting back.
Dunham understands our own human ignorance, decalring, “I thought I knew” (18). Recognizing that “we knew / Not what we did” (14), Dunham displays growth and change, hoping to make amends for actions committed with unknown consequences. For our mistakes, because we now know better, Dunham demands “No Excuses”. She wants readers to “unsheathe your sword and … Salvage this Earth” (14), suggesting a revolt is required to save the Earth.
Dunham appeals to the readers emotions, asking the audience to imagine themselves in the shoes of others: “She could be dead. Easily / she could be your daughter” (7). The use of “your” instantly connects readers to their own loved ones, allowing the audience to care as much as they would as if it were their own tragedy.
“Backyard Pastoral” draws a direct parallel between the daily risks we ignore and larger ecological dangers (such as the BP Oil spill), highlighting the way that we choose to ignore long-term dangers in favor of short-term solutions. In the same way that BP chose to believe that it would be “unlikely that an accidental spill would occur” (27) – despite all research in the report which predicted a spill – we stupidly choose to believe the lies on the back of dangerous toxic products (such as Roundup bug spray) that claim to be safe, knowing evidence in the real world suggests otherwise. “Used according to directions, Roundup poses no risk to people, animals, or the environment.” directly contradicts what will be read in the newspaper article later, that “Roundup can be the origin of a cancer” (45). This is a very real poem, which identifies daily behavior that has become normalized. Dunham recognizes the threats that disguise themselves as safe, and hope to illustrate their imperative danger. The daily toxic products we use are as bad as oil spills, if not worse.
Dunham makes it clear that beyond her and others’ personal experiences, humans have become subject to a ruin of their own making: “The only thing worse than the disaster itself is what happens when the world decides it’s over,” she writes. “All fixed. It’s a fact any survivor knows.”
May 23, 2017
Powerful, provocative images! Rebecca Dunham visits and revisits ecologically damaging current events in shrewd but lyrical poems. Juxtaposing the filth of the oil spill with the water fowl, a mother holding a babe and spraying weed killer riddled with carcinogens, the images she presents are dynamic and memorable. Great new edition from Milkweed!
December 21, 2020
"The only thing worse than the disaster itself is what happens when the world decides it's over."
As a Rukeyser aficionado, I appreciated the nods to The Book of the Dead, like the "hive of boxes," which seems to be a sneaky allusion to "Post office window, a hive of private boxes" from the poem "Gauley Bridge."
As a Rukeyser aficionado, I appreciated the nods to The Book of the Dead, like the "hive of boxes," which seems to be a sneaky allusion to "Post office window, a hive of private boxes" from the poem "Gauley Bridge."
February 7, 2018
This is a powerful book of poetry focused on our environment and specific acts of destruction, namely the BP oil spill w Deepwater Horizon, and the water crisis in Flint. The language is complex, sparse and moving. This is a book of poetry that you can read multiple times.
October 31, 2017
Poetry inspired by recent ecological events. Creative & thought provoking.
September 24, 2022
Eco-Warrior poetry. Powerful and evocative.
March 14, 2017
A devastating examination of an event too easily forgotten, the ecological catastrophe of _Deepwater Horizon_. Rebecca Dunham leaves no stone unturned, transforming official reports, interviews, and first person perspective on the catastrophe into an extended elegy: for the Gulf, for the marine life, for the fishermen, for engineering culture that failed, and for us all.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews