Getting over the Color Green

by Slovic, Scott

• ISBN13: 9780816516643
• ISBN10: 0816516642
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-02-01
• Publisher: Univ of Arizona Pr

Summary

Desert vistas are often deemed vacant, inhospitable wastelands. Don't suggest that to Joy Harjo, Pat Mora, or other contemporary southwestern writers. In these arid stretches, often devoid of green, today's southwestern writers see pyrotechnic colors and Gothic shapes that excite and often overwhelm the imagination. And they capture this excitement in words that fix these desert images in the minds of readers who may too often look at the world through green-colored glasses.

This anthology of contemporary nature writing from the Greater Southwest brings together a host of writers including peers of Edward Abbey such as Charles Bowden and Ann Zwinger and representatives of a new generation of writers such as Rick Bass and Terry Tempest Williams. The book is an eclectic blend of nonfiction and fiction, field notes and poetry, through which artists of diverse backgrounds both celebrate and illuminate the unique vitality and complexity of southwestern literature -- proving that green is only one of many colors on their palette.

The selections included here rang

Author Biography

Scott Slovic teaches environmental literature and directs the Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities at the University of Nevada, Reno

Table of Contents

Editor's Introduction	xv
Watching Closely: Forays in Natural History
A Natural History	3	(5)
John Alcock
The Elements	8	(7)
Sueellen Campbell
The Canyon	15	(2)
John Daniel
The Canyon Wren	17	(2)
from ``Desert of Definition''	19	(7)
David Darlington
The Rock Fig	26	(2)
Alison Hawthorne Deming
Driving through Nature	28	(1)
Why Write about Nature?	29	(3)
Susan Hanson
Swamp Thing	32	(8)
Stephen Harrigan
Of Pinacate Beetles and Beaches	40	(10)
Ken Lamberton
Notes of a Nature Writer: Big Bend National Park	50	(2)
Edward Lueders
Irregular Flight	52	(9)
Kent Nelson
Field Notes from the Southwest: 1992-1997	61	(8)
Robert Michael Pyle
from Going Back to Bisbee	69	(7)
Richard Shelton
Daybook: Bosque del Apache, New Mexico	76	(9)
Terry Tempest Williams
Homecoming	85	(3)
from Downcanyon	88	(7)
Ann Haymond Zwinger
Risking Experience: Adventures in the Wild
Transition Zone	95	(3)
Bruce Berger
Fear Falls Away	98	(7)
Janice Emily Bowers
Infidelity	105	(2)
Karen Brennan
On Sending the Raft North	107	(13)
Deidre Elliott
The Crossing	120	(1)
Suzanne Freeman
Going to the Creek	121	(1)
Yuccas at 70 MPH	122	(1)
The Turtle	123	(2)
Ray Gonzalez
Two Striped Lizards	125	(2)
The Healing Leaves	127	(1)
from High Tide in Tucson	128	(3)
Barbara Kingsolver
A Nevada Treasure	131	(4)
Ann Ronald
Gila Wilderness	135	(13)
Sharman Apt Russell
The Mountain	148	(14)
Leslie Ryan
Chaco Night	162	(18)
Reg Saner
On the Back of the Dragon	180	(15)
Stephen Trimble
Living Close to the Land
The Farm	195	(8)
Rick Bass
Rain	203	(2)
Gloria Bird
The Heart's Resilience	205	(2)
Birds, Ice, Fire	207	(14)
Steve Bodio
El Rio Grande	221	(1)
Pat Mora
A River of Women	222	(2)
Cuentista	224	(1)
The Seed of a Song	225	(1)
Gary Paul Nabhan
The Village on the Other Side of White Horse Pass	226	(1)
Territories	227	(5)
Barbara (``Barney'') Nelson
Pause	232	(2)
Naomi Shihab Nye
Muchas Gracias Por Todo	234	(2)
Land and Stars, The Only Knowledge	236	(2)
Simon J. Ortiz
Culture and the Universe	238	(2)
Getting Ready	240	(2)
The Cures of Green and Night	242	(3)
Alberto Rios
A Physics of Sudden Light	245	(2)
The Endangered Roots of a Person	247	(2)
Wendy Rose
Cebolleros	249	(15)
Benjamin Alire Saenz
The Motion of Songs Rising	264	(2)
Luci Tapahonso
Havasu City	266	(2)
Peter Wild
Wind	268	(3)
Ofelia Zepeda
Morning Air	271	(4)
Taking a Stand: Voices of Conservation and Restoration
Devil Deer	275	(7)
Rudolfo Anaya
Sparton Industry	282	(2)
Jimmy Santiago Baca
from Desierto: Memories of the Future	284	(9)
Charles Bowden
from ``Lake of the Stone Mother''	293	(8)
David James Duncan
Witness	301	(8)
Lisa Gerber
Eagle Poem	309	(1)
Joy Harjo
What Holds the Water, What Holds the Light	310	(4)
Linda Hogan
from ``Playing God on the Lawns of the Lord''	314	(4)
Teresa Jordan
from ``Regaining Paradise''	318	(13)
Gregory McNamee
A Traffic Violation	331	(5)
John Nichols
Test	336	(1)
Gary Short
Tidings	337	(2)
from ``From Hell to Breakfast''	339	(5)
Rebecca Solnit
Not by Human Measure	344	(5)
T. H. Watkins
Suggested Additional Readings	349	(2)
List of Credits	351	(8)
About the Contributors	359	(14)
About the Editor	373	(2)
Index	375