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God, Seed: Poetry & Art About the Natural World
Poetry. Art by Lorna Stevens. "Rebecca Foust knows what goes on in 'the cricket-sung, grass-sweet dark, ' and she isn't afraid to sing it. If there are moments of anxiety, intimations of mortality--if, as she writes, 'ours is the curse of the blighted touch'--they cannot, in the end, overwhelm the exuberant, muscular joy that emanates both from Foust's poems, and from Lorna Stevens' charming and evocative illustrations. Together, the words and pictures of God, Seed make a beguiling duet, a fine romance, a garden of earthly and, at times, unearthly delights"--Troy Jollimore. "A lovely, singing book, in both the art work and the language--intricate beauties informed by informed passion"--William Kittredge
- GenresPoetry
85 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2010
1 person is currently reading
31 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Foust
15 books527 followersRebecca Foust’s new book, ONLY released from Four Way Books in 2022 and received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly Foust is the author of three chapbooks including The Unexploded Ordnance Bin (2018 Swan Scythe Chapbook Award) and four books including Paradise Drive, (Press 53 Award for Poetry). Recognitions include the 2020 Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry judged by Kaveh Akbar, the CP Cavafy and James Hearst poetry prizes, a 2017-19 Marin Poet Laureateship, and fellowships from The Frost Place, Hedgebrook, MacDowell, and Sewanee. Recent poems are in The Cincinnati Review, The Hudson Review, Narrative, Ploughshares, POETRY, and elsewhere. Contact her on her at https://rebeccafoust.com/ or @FoustRebecca on Facebook, or @rebecca.foust.52 on Instagram.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 30, 2010
Poetry and Painting: A Perfect Melding of Art
In NOTES at the back of this book the title of this collection is defined as: 'God, Seed'. the reference is to the Native American agrarian practice of planting seeds in mounds and using fish heads as fertilizer to renew the soil.' And for those of us who were taught this secret by grandparents or others who had wisely lived in touch with the earth this title will begin the lovely journey that lies within the pages of this combination of poems by Rebecca Foust and images by Lorna Stevens. Rarely has a book involving two artists melded so well. From cover to cover the design and quality of presentation of this material have in and of themselves created a piece of art worthy of acclaim (Tebot Bach is the publisher). The poems and art go even beyond that high standard.
Rebecca Foust is growing in reputation as a poet of significance, a seer who is unafraid to share the most personal moments of how she perceives her life and the world in verse so deceptively simple that even after the inevitable pause after reading her poems there still remains an imprint on the memory of how she speaks with such honesty and beauty:
LOVE CANAL
Little life, blighted bud,
limbs unperturbed by
single
breath,
blue, translucent, still.
Here end those months
of waiting while I
nourished you, lying
on my left side, drinking
cisterns of water.
I stilled my fears, called
back my heart
from its full-moon howl
so you, little comma,
would not be afraid.
I willed my womb
to hold you close,
a cradle that became
your ferry across the dark river
before you saw light.
Lorna Stevens is also a tenderly gifted artist, using watercolor, charcoal rubbing, pencil and combinations of these to create her haiku-like images of the special things of the earth's garden and waters: poppies, fish fossils, fruit, feathers, birds in flight all are so simply stated that what is important is their essence. Poet and artist then, Foust and Stevens, have wedded thoughts and the desire to foster the earth in this book of great distinction. For example, in one their last shared moments in the book the poem below is, on the page opposite, illuminated by a delicate unfolding fern frond in a nascent green watercolor painting:
SPRING WILL COME
Spring will come despite the rain -
mothwing petals sift past quince,
blooming bare-branched beneath
the plumed plum Despite the rain,
despite the pain - or is if from,
or through? Prepositions don't matter
- spring will come.
At book's end the artists share resumes as well as descriptors for each of the art works in the book, acknowledging the equality between the two contributors. GOD, SEED is a gift - for those who love to connect with the earth's survival - for those who wish to offer such a special gift to friends, enduring. Highly Recommended on every level.
Grady Harp
In NOTES at the back of this book the title of this collection is defined as: 'God, Seed'. the reference is to the Native American agrarian practice of planting seeds in mounds and using fish heads as fertilizer to renew the soil.' And for those of us who were taught this secret by grandparents or others who had wisely lived in touch with the earth this title will begin the lovely journey that lies within the pages of this combination of poems by Rebecca Foust and images by Lorna Stevens. Rarely has a book involving two artists melded so well. From cover to cover the design and quality of presentation of this material have in and of themselves created a piece of art worthy of acclaim (Tebot Bach is the publisher). The poems and art go even beyond that high standard.
Rebecca Foust is growing in reputation as a poet of significance, a seer who is unafraid to share the most personal moments of how she perceives her life and the world in verse so deceptively simple that even after the inevitable pause after reading her poems there still remains an imprint on the memory of how she speaks with such honesty and beauty:
LOVE CANAL
Little life, blighted bud,
limbs unperturbed by
single
breath,
blue, translucent, still.
Here end those months
of waiting while I
nourished you, lying
on my left side, drinking
cisterns of water.
I stilled my fears, called
back my heart
from its full-moon howl
so you, little comma,
would not be afraid.
I willed my womb
to hold you close,
a cradle that became
your ferry across the dark river
before you saw light.
Lorna Stevens is also a tenderly gifted artist, using watercolor, charcoal rubbing, pencil and combinations of these to create her haiku-like images of the special things of the earth's garden and waters: poppies, fish fossils, fruit, feathers, birds in flight all are so simply stated that what is important is their essence. Poet and artist then, Foust and Stevens, have wedded thoughts and the desire to foster the earth in this book of great distinction. For example, in one their last shared moments in the book the poem below is, on the page opposite, illuminated by a delicate unfolding fern frond in a nascent green watercolor painting:
SPRING WILL COME
Spring will come despite the rain -
mothwing petals sift past quince,
blooming bare-branched beneath
the plumed plum Despite the rain,
despite the pain - or is if from,
or through? Prepositions don't matter
- spring will come.
At book's end the artists share resumes as well as descriptors for each of the art works in the book, acknowledging the equality between the two contributors. GOD, SEED is a gift - for those who love to connect with the earth's survival - for those who wish to offer such a special gift to friends, enduring. Highly Recommended on every level.
Grady Harp
November 19, 2014
What a beautiful volume of verse by a daring poet. Ms. Foust, in tandem with artist Lorna Stevens, has put together a wondrous meditation on our increasingly fragile natural world, recognizing the fleeting moments of each flower, insect, animal, cloud as if it were the last of its species. Sad and marvelous at the same time, the poems' deeply moving epiphanies echo in the delicate paintings of Ms. Stevens. So fortunate to have made time for this. Even the time of day is an endangered species in their views:
"...Winter sunsets, the sky a wound,
the sky vivid and gashed, each day
bound to the last with dark thread."
from Spring
"...Winter sunsets, the sky a wound,
the sky vivid and gashed, each day
bound to the last with dark thread."
from Spring
Read
November 20, 2020Favorite verse:
“Our hands reach for the plough and spade
to loosen the soil annealed by neglect,
but now is the season of sickle and blade.”
from Steward
“Our hands reach for the plough and spade
to loosen the soil annealed by neglect,
but now is the season of sickle and blade.”
from Steward
May 6, 2011
I haven’t read much poetry (shame on me!) and I thank Rebecca Foust for inviting me into her world. I do find poetry quite personal and believe this shows through in Rebecca’s work. I liked some, thought some were just okay and then found some special favourites. I particularly liked ‘Bee Fugue’ where Rebecca describes perfectly the damage illness, via pesticide, parasite or virus, can affect a community and cause possible extinction. Mother Nature at her worst? Human nature at its worst? Either way it shows some things are out of our control, or the control of the bees, and the story will play out until perhaps the bitter end.
There is a deepness to this book of poetry and it evokes sadness, understanding and at times happiness. Emotions change from poem to poem and it makes one think about things which might not usually cross their mind. Good things can still come out of bad situations. The world does keep on spinning.
In this book of poetry there are many pictures which Lorna Stevens created. I loved them all in their own way. Some are quirky, some colourful and some black and white. One of my favourites goes with the poem ‘Last Bison Gone’. I can’t put my finger on why I like it so much, I just do, it appeals to me. There is a description of each of the pictures at the back of the book and some also describe how Lorna created them. I found this very interesting and it added an extra appreciation for me. I think it is a wonderful touch to have these descriptions included.
A good collection of poems with fitting companions in the form of pictures, a great relationship between words and art, both producing emotions by themselves and when viewed as a whole.
Many thanks to Rebecca Foust for providing me with a copy of God, Seed: Poetry & Art About the Natural World – thanks, Rebecca!
There is a deepness to this book of poetry and it evokes sadness, understanding and at times happiness. Emotions change from poem to poem and it makes one think about things which might not usually cross their mind. Good things can still come out of bad situations. The world does keep on spinning.
In this book of poetry there are many pictures which Lorna Stevens created. I loved them all in their own way. Some are quirky, some colourful and some black and white. One of my favourites goes with the poem ‘Last Bison Gone’. I can’t put my finger on why I like it so much, I just do, it appeals to me. There is a description of each of the pictures at the back of the book and some also describe how Lorna created them. I found this very interesting and it added an extra appreciation for me. I think it is a wonderful touch to have these descriptions included.
A good collection of poems with fitting companions in the form of pictures, a great relationship between words and art, both producing emotions by themselves and when viewed as a whole.
Many thanks to Rebecca Foust for providing me with a copy of God, Seed: Poetry & Art About the Natural World – thanks, Rebecca!
August 13, 2014
Complemented with eclectic paintings from nature, Foust's poems are teleological reminders that,
"In the seed lies all that it can ever be,
shoot, plant, flower, fruit, and
in the end again, the seed."
And when death happened,
"The birds lifted
their black hearts in crescendo, and left."
When reading these poems, I felt the "otherness" of the natural world become personified. The seed, conscious of rain when burned by fire. I don't tend to be drawn towards poems with a political agenda, but the few peppered throughout this book are modest meditations filled more with questions than with criticism and answers, which I liked.
"In the seed lies all that it can ever be,
shoot, plant, flower, fruit, and
in the end again, the seed."
And when death happened,
"The birds lifted
their black hearts in crescendo, and left."
When reading these poems, I felt the "otherness" of the natural world become personified. The seed, conscious of rain when burned by fire. I don't tend to be drawn towards poems with a political agenda, but the few peppered throughout this book are modest meditations filled more with questions than with criticism and answers, which I liked.
May 21, 2012
Excerpts:
from "Listen:"
to the slow, savage seep
of earthly beauty, cricket
cadence swelling in soft dusk,
rain-stick stutter of seeds
incanting a monsoon of memory,
its long, slow surge.
from "A Question:"
sunlight/ churned by the bees/ into curds of thick,/ thyme-scented honey
January 5, 2012
Some beautiful wordplay, but too many poems that have an agenda, and thus get mired in their own righteousness.
September 19, 2012
This is one book where the art adds as much to the experience as reading the poetry. Most selections relate to the experience of nature. Many of the water color drawings match the poem.
October 5, 2013
Foust us brilliant!! Beautifully illustrated.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews