| Unchopping a Tree Contributor(s): Merwin, W. S. (Author), Ward, Liz (Illustrator) |
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ISBN: 1595341870 ISBN-13: 9781595341877 Publisher: Trinity University Press OUR PRICE: $13.46 Product Type: Hardcover Published: February 2014 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Nature | Essays - Nature | Plants - Trees - Nature | Environmental Conservation & Protection - General |
| Dewey: 811.54 |
| LCCN: 2013044502 |
| Physical Information: 0.4" H x 7.2" W x 7.1" (0.45 lbs) 48 pages |
| Themes: - Topical - Ecology |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: There's no mystery to chopping down a tree. But how do you put back together a tree that's been felled? Mystical instructions are required, and that's what W. S. Merwin provides in his prose piece "Unchopping a Tree," appearing for the first time in a self-contained volume. Written with a poet's grace, an ecologist's insights, and a Buddhist's reverence for life, this elegant work describes the difficult, sacred job of reconstructing a tree. Step by step, page by page, with Merwin's humble authority, secrets are revealed, and the destroyed tree rises from the forest floor. Unchopping a Tree opens with simplicity and grace: "Start with the leaves, the small twigs, and the nest that have been shaken, ripped, or broken off by the fall; these must be gathered and attached once again to their respective places." W. S. Merwin, like many conservationists, is quick to say: "When we destroy the so-called natural world around us we're simply destroying ourselves. And I think it's irreversible." Thus the tree takes on a scale that begs the reader's compassion, and one tree is a parable for the restoration of all nature. |