To the Natural World

Genevieve Taggard

Genevieve Taggard began writing verse in 1907 when she was thirteen, and went on to publish eleven books of poetry and a biography of Emily Dickinson. Taggard, who died in 1948, published poems in The Nation, The New Republic, Kenyon Review, The New Yorker, and was widely anthologized, but never published a full-length collection. To the Natural World was assembled by Taggard’s daughter, Marcia Liles, especially for the Ahsahta Modern and Contemporary Poetry of the American West series. Taggard’s American natural world spans from Washington and Hawaii to New Hampshire and Vermont. Then she whisks us off to observations of Capri, Mallorca, and Antibes. Sense of place is the passion behind Taggard's melody and rhythm, and these qualities animate this collection of poetry. To the Natural World is a book that allows you to walk with this remarkable woman, this extraordinary poet, and make her poems and history momentarily your own.

A sample poem from the book

A Poem to Explain Everything About a Certain Day in Vermont

Fifty wizards working in the wind

And one tall wizard standing in the rear

Made a quick sheen to lacquer all Vermont.

Up leapt the sun. The air was far and near.

The weeds, the grass, the corn, the slipping river

Made wizard quiet. My noon-sleepy deer

Whisked in the shade, saw winsome sun go over,

And still those wizards brewed the atmosphere.

The lone tall wizard opened up the west.

Sunset made its exit beryl and sheer.

Those wizards leapt like acrobats, swinging free,

Hung their thin capes upon cold Vega’s spear. . .

Galaxies were thick, weather was clear.