No Nature: New and Selected Poems

by Gary Snyder

"The greatest of living nature poets. . . . It helps us to go on, having Gary Snyder in our midst."--Los Angeles Times. Snyder is the author of many volumes of poetry and prose, including The Practice of the Wild and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Turtle Island. Reading tour.

Genres: Poetry, Nature, Environment, Religion, Classics, American, Buddhism

407 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Gary Snyder is an American poet, essayist, lecturer, and environmental activist. His early poetry has been associated with the Beat Generation and the San Francisco Renaissance and he has been described as the "poet laureate of Deep Ecology". Snyder is a winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry and the American Book Award. His work, in his various roles, reflects an immersion in both Buddhist spirituality and nature. He has translated literature into English from ancient Chinese and modern Japanese. For many years, Snyder was an academic at the University of California, Davis, and for a time served as a member of the California Arts Council.

Reviews

[Gerbik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snyder is great, and this represents him quite well. However, I think his body of work will remain just a hair's breadth away from full illumination until a devoted editor annotates many of his very particular regional, botanical, anthropological and non-English references. It's somewhat astounding how prescient and keyed-in his concerns were back in the late fifties: ecology, cross-culturalization, holism, Buddhism, etc. While his poetics are entirely apt and owned, it may exert an unfortunate influence not unlike Kerouac's on prose (albeit on a much smaller scale): novice writers fail to acknowledge the adequate formal preparation made by both Keroauc and Snyder and imitate these highly achieved and deeply considered stylistic positions. Without this preparation, such disregard of convention lacks substance and impact; that we can tell whether or not the preparation has been made is a fascinating distinction.

[Kate Savage · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's called "the Thoreau of the Beat generation." As he ages, Snyder's poems curl into something more interesting than typical nature poetry. At the very end, he even mentions some women without mentioning their breasts, which is an accomplishment for any beat poet.


FOR THE CHILDREN

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

He's like a mountain man survivalist... lots of geology, wildlife and outdoorsy chores. My favorites are the intimate sauna poems where he describes his naked family in great detail, which sounds creepy but is actually touching.

[Christina Mainelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

this collection had its moments of redemption but overall i’m glad it’s done—debated several times if i should even finish it. time for some femme lit to cleanse the pallet. sorry, gar bear.

[Tammy Marie Jacintho · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great companion when also studying Zen. The work is so spare. Like the sun bleached bones of a wild animal in the desert, it is all the more startling because you stumble upon them. At first, you can't make out the object in the dizzying landscape, and then suddenly you are filled with rapture.

Like Georgia O'Keefe, you want to take up one perfect poem and hold it up against the sky. You want to see its shape against a backdrop of perfect blue. Each line has its own symmetry. Each line is whittled down. And, like the best of craftsman, he breathes his soul into what he makes.

A practicing Buddhist can perceive the ocean in a single raindrop. Snyder gives the ocean of language new shape.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just picked this back up to clear my head the other day and was reminded of how tranquil but noisey these poems can be. Snyder probably shouldn't be read in the city, but if you close your windows and curtains it might work. Read some of it out loud to hear the sounds his poetry makes - it can sound like walking up a gravel road or like a waterfall. Some of it I just don't understand though . . . a bit more zen than I can be at my age maybe.

[Kati · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been slowly, slowly working through this beautiful book since Levi sent it to me a few years back. What a beautiful way to finish the first month of the new year. He conveys so much with few words.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have slightly complicated feelings about it that i'd be happy to share if anybody wants to know...i just can't sum them up in a couple sentences just yet.

[Ashleyj Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Once a logger, GAry Snyder portrays the wilderness, logging, and the scents/colors/sounds of trees so enchantingly and beautiful. One of my favorite poets.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

No poetry has touched me like the poetry of Gary Snyder. Simple, direct, and of-the-earth, Gary Snyder is THE MAN.

[Wil Turner · Rating 5 out of 5]

The single book I've carried the farthest and read the most. Was in my backpack everywhere I went until late 2006.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

“now I know I’ll never be a Ph.D.
dumping oily buckets
in the middle of the ocean”

No Nature is an excellent collection of poetry. It provides an overview of Gary Snyder’s work from the 1950s to 1992. Synder was quite a character. He was very outdoorsy, working as a lumberjack, dairy farmer, seaman, and fire lookout, all the while studying Zen Buddhism and practicing meditation. Snyder also was a devoted husband and father. His multi-faceted life is reflected in his poetry.

Some quotes:

“Milton By Firelight”
“O hell, what do mine eyes
with grief behold?”
Working with an old
Singlejack miner, who can sense
The vein and cleavage
In the very guts of rock, can
Blast granite, build
Switchbacks that last for years
Under the beat of snow, thaw, mule-hooves.
What use, Milton, a silly story
Of our lost general parents,
eaters of fruit?
The Indian, the chainsaw boy,
And a string of six mules
Came riding down to camp
Hungry for tomatoes and green apples.
Sleeping in saddle-blankets
Under a bright night-sky
Han River slantwise by morning.
Jays squall
Coffee boils
In ten thousand years the Sierras
Will be dry and dead, home of the scorpion.
Ice-scratched slabs and bent trees.
No paradise, no fall,
Only the weathering land
The wheeling sky,
Man, with his Satan
Scouring the chaos of the mind.
Oh Hell!
Fire down
Too dark to read, miles from a road
The bell-mare clangs in the meadow
That packed dirt for a fill-in
Scrambling through loose rocks
On an old trail
All of a summer’s day.
(pp. 7-8)

“There Are Those Who Love To Get Dirty”
There are those who love to get dirty and fix things.
They drink coffee at dawn,
beer after work,

And those who stay clean,
just appreciate things,
At breakfast, they have milk and juice at night.

There are those who do both,
they drink tea.
(p. 358)

“For Lew Welch In A Snowfall”
Snowfall in March:
I sit in the white glow reading a thesis
About you. Your poems, your life.
The author's my student,
He even quotes me.
Forty years since we joked in a kitchen in Portland
Twenty since you disappeared.
All those years and their moments—
Crackling bacon, slamming car doors,
Poems tried out on friends,
Will be one more archive,
One more shaky text.
But life continues in the kitchen
Where we still laugh and cook,
Watching snow.
(p. 380)

“The cliffs and stars
Belong to the same universe
The little air in between
Belongs to the twentieth century and its wars”
(p. 279)

“Now I know I’ll never be a Ph.D.
Dumping oily buckets
In the middle of the ocean”
(p. 153)

Title: No Nature: New and Selected Poems
Author: Gary Snyder
Year: 1993
Genre: Poetry collection
Page count: 416 pages
Date(s) read: 6/4/23 - 6/14/23
Reading journal entry #119 in 2023

[Brendan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having known of Gary Snyder for some time without having read any of his work, I was fortunate enough to find this book in a thrift store along with some Basho (it was a great day).

The poems in this book are simply beautiful. They often bring me nostalgia for time spent in the forests of British Columbia as a child. They often bring me the hollow clarity that is present in some of life's most peaceful moments.

Beyond the body of work, Gary Snyder is one of the few literary figures that I identified with at 19 who I continue to admire.

[Natalie T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fine selection of the life's work of a great American poet. Consistent throughout Snyder's life was his precise observation of the natural world, his gentle but keen remonstrations of the poor choices made by "throngs of people [. . .] trading all their precious time/ for things" ("The Trade"), and his deep love for family and a legion of friends. Reading Snyder's poems is like taking a leisurely walk on a pleasant day with a good companion: you emerge renewed and refreshed, and more in love with life.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sort of "greatest hits" of Snyder's poetry. I know now that I prefer reading the collections in their proper, original context. But this is a good sampling.

My favorite will always be "Four Poems for Robin." I only hope their hearts are reconciled, but the angst weighs heavily in the air.

Recommended for anyone lacking the words to match nature's beauty. Blah blah, but it's true.

[Lorraine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Huh. Turns out I don't really like Gary Snyder's poetry very much, only the Riprap and Cold Mountain Poems collection, and I think a lot of that is also nostalgia for the experience of reading it in an eco-poetry graduate class twenty years ago.

My track record of utter boredom with 20th-century, male, American poets sure is coming to a middle.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this three stars, because...
I think Gary Snyder is important
to the body of American poetry.

However, after 381 pages...
I was still waiting for the poems
to matter more to me than they did.

[Nicholas Massey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and wide ranging introduction to Snyder. Nicely presented.

[Matthew Stolte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up the 1st edition hardcover - bright pages - one of my favorite poetry books of all time!

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alive with nature and Snyder's personal study of Zen, this collection serves as an excellent overview of his development and growth as poet.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gary Snyder's poems aren't for everybody. He is an environmentalist and I was drawn to him through a book about him and Wendell Berry. There is actually a poem in the book dedicated to Wendell and his wife. If you've never read anything by Snyder, this is the place to start. It is a collected of some of his old work and also contains some new work. The poems that I enjoyed:

35 but ye shall destroy their altars
53 now i'll also tell what food
67 the text
91 the spring
111 four poems for robin
183 revolution in the revolution in the revolution
184 what you should know to be a poet
191 the trade
209 the dead by the side of the road
218 front lines
219 control burn
236 mother earth: her whales
246 L M B F R
264 for/from lew
266 axe handles
269 berry territory
273 fence posts
283 true night
308 for all
325 longitude 170 w, latitude 30 n
341 crash
377 travelling to the capital

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beat poet Snyder is a beautiful soul with a gift for language. This collection of his work is perfect to keep next to your bed to read poems before you nod off to sleep. I love this one:

For The Children

The rising hills, the slopes,
of statistics
lie before us.
the steep climb
of everything, going up,
up, as we all
go down.

In the next century
or the one beyond that,
they say,
are valleys, pastures,
we can meet there in peace
if we make it.

To climb these coming crests
one word to you, to
you and your children:

stay together
learn the flowers
go light

--Gary Snyder

[Sunni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snyder can write about hiking in remote mountain ranges with such lovely detail and spirit of zen that it feels real, lived, and human in the deepest sense. His poems about changing a diaper, about talking to the boy at Dodger Lookout point, about visiting Wendell Berry and his wife on their farm all show that he is reverent to things that deserve to be observed and revered. He's also highly irreverant about the different forces that drive society. He reads tough and sure of himself. That this is his selected poems and is thick says that his writing has been substantial.

[Homerun2 · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting poet -- his work is valuable and compelling, but his life story even more so. He has at various times been a teacher, a seaman, a logger and a monk. He writes love poems, nature poems, and the occasional poem about an engine room or a pump he is repairing. I had the great good fortune to meet and spend a few hours with Mr. Snyder when he visited our city for a reading this week. At 84 he is lively, charming, vital, curious and funny. And he reads his work beautifully and like an old pro, never setting a foot wrong between whimsy, regret, and daily life.

[brendan · Rating 4 out of 5]

i knew people throughout college, in all my creative writing and poetry classes, who raved and orgasmed over snyder's nature poetry. while i am not really at a point in life where hyperbolical raving over an author or book i now understand why those acquaintances felt thus. yet, i cannot in good faith recommend this to anyone. merely keep gary snyder in the back of your mind and when you feel an urge for nature poetry that forms the armature modern nature poets hang themselves from.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't read every poem in the book, but I'm declaring this one read. It's ok, if you like Californian neo-Buddhism. I found only a couple of these poems truly memorable. The rest were sort-of journal entries by a guy I probably would find too New Agey to enjoy a dinner with. Maybe a cup of coffee. Definitely a hike.

[Daniel Klawitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

He is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much better than Alan Ginsberg, who after writing Howl, pretty much wrote whatever came into his head with no editing and too many exclamation points. Snyder is the most accomplished and readable poet to have arisen from the whole "beat" movement.

[Erik Akre · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great set of poems. What a great man. A life well-lived.

No nature =

Coyote nature
Tokyo nature
Body nature
City nature
Child nature
Uncertainty nature
Mountain nature
Work nature
Pine nature
Garbage nature
Zen nature
Sea nature
Sex nature

... Everything nature = No nature.

(reading Gary Snyder for long
enough
everything turns
to Poetry)

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars only because i already had most of the poems in other books. i'm just a gary snyder completist. :shrug:

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is what made me fall madly in love with gary snyder.