March 20, 2023
In this meditative outing, poet Dungy (Guidebook to Relative Strangers) reflects on race and history while discussing the garden she maintains outside her Colorado home. “No matter how many years have passed, no perennial in life’s garden roots more deeply than history,” she contends, using her garden as a metaphor to explore the complex historical relationship between Black Americans and the land. She tells of moving in 2013 with her husband and young daughter, Callie, to a majority-white neighborhood in Fort Collins, Colo., where she started a plot of flowers and vegetables in her yard. Gardening, she writes, helps her “feel rooted,” and she recounts taking pains to explain to Callie the difference between their choosing to garden and the labor of enslaved people forced to work the land. Poems inspired by nature appear throughout, serving as connective tissue for ruminations on the garden of Harlem Renaissance poet Anne Spencer, 19th-century naturalist John Muir’s racism and sexism, and the overlap between environmental and racial justice. Fans of Dungy’s poetry will delight in her sparkling prose, and the wide-ranging meditations highlight the connections between land, freedom, and race. It’s a lyrical and pensive take on what it means to put down roots. Photos.
September 1, 2023
Award-winning poet Dungy (English, Colorado State Univ.; Trophic Cascade) delivers a contemplative account of the transformation of her suburban lawn into a drought-tolerant, pollinator-friendly garden, while reflecting on issues of race, history, and motherhood. In 2013, the author, her husband, and her daughter moved from Oakland, CA, to Fort Collins, CO, a predominantly white city. Though Dungy hoped to create a sustainable, supportive environment for plants, animals, and insects, she discovered that her neighborhood had strict rules restricting variety and difference. Undeterred, she intentionally created a wild, heterogeneous haven. As she did so, she began to draw connections from her life to history and her role as a Black woman, mother, and poet. She writes, "I can't dig in my garden without digging up all this old dirt." Dungy brings her knowledge of nature writers to bear, devoting a segment to Harlem Renaissance writer Anne Spencer, whose poetry reflected her love of plants, nature, and gardens. The author's own poetry--lyrical and perfectly paced--is sprinkled throughout the book. Dungy's narration of the audio is conversational and warm; she holds listeners spellbound with her beautiful words. VERDICT An eclectic and captivating mix of gardening, memoir, history, poetry, and even song.--Phillip Oliver
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