In the Vision of Birds

Long before the current rise of eco-poetry, Steve Luxton was writing powerful and exquisitely crafted poems about and set in nature. An avid fisherman, canoeist and hiker, he has explored and recorded in memorable detail the region around his home in Quebec. This important collection brings together for the first time Luxtons best nature poems written over the last 35 years and includes new and previously unpublished work. Influenced by well-known fellow poets and Eastern Townshippers, F. R. Scott, Louis Dudek, Ralph Gustafson, and D.G. Jones, Luxton has developed a mature and authoritative voice uniquely his own. Rich in language and metaphor, these poems dazzle at times with their depth and dissolve the barrier between Man and Nature. With a true and finely honed poetic gift, Luxton vividly portrays the natural worlds green particulars-what the Zen Buddhists term The Ten Thousand Things. Unsentimentally Post pastoral and also post Romantic, Luxton employs his eyes, ears, heart, and mind, with non-appropriating eloquence.