The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America’s Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders
Edited by Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, and David Hassler; Foreword by Phillip Levin
A Poets for Science anthology and companion to the first national assessment of U.S. lands, waters, and wildlife
#1 New Release in the Ecology category!
ISBN: 9781734496574
LCCN: 2025027887
Paper | 6 x 9 | 390 pages
Publication Date: Sep 18, 2025
List Price: $23 (price may vary by retailer)
Contact: editor [at] palomapress.org
Description
Originally envisioned as a companion to the first U.S. National Nature Assessment and now to the work of United By Nature, The Nature of Our Times: Poems on America’s Lands, Waters, Wildlife, and Other Natural Wonders gathers 210 voices from the arts, ecology, academia, and Indigenous communities from North America giving witness to how nature shapes our lives and how we can shape the future.
Edited by Luisa A. Igloria, Aileen Cassinetto, and David Hassler, the anthology features poems from some of the country’s best-known poets, including Jane Hirshfield, Kimberly Blaeser, Diane Ackerman, Camille Dungy, Naomi Shihab Nye, Arthur Sze, and many more.
The Nature of Our Times is a shared initiative, bringing together the joint efforts of Paloma Press, Poets for Science, United By Nature, and Wick Poetry Center at Kent State University, and is made possible with grant support from the Ohio Arts Council, the San Mateo County Office of Arts and Culture and Arts Commission, and the Woodward Foundation. This anthology serves as a companion to the first national assessment of U.S. lands, waters, and wildlife.
Praise
“In a time of profound ecological change, The Nature of Our Times offers a lyrical companion to the United By Nature Initiative—an independent, science-led assessment of nature’s status, benefits, and future in the United States. The poems in this volume channel the wonder, urgency, and responsibility of living in relationship with the natural world. Grounded in both science and soul, this anthology amplifies the human dimension of ecosystems and reminds us that knowledge alone is not enough—we need empathy and imagination to fuel a path forward. This is a book to stir the heart, expand the mind, and inspire action.”
—Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., University Distinguished Professor, Oregon State University and co-founder of the United By Nature Initiative
“These poems miraculously awaken the eyes, ears, nose, tongue and fingers: to bees and bark and bears. And to how a few blades of switchgrass, or a kiting hawk, might describe the wind. Careful readers will re-member themselves in the natural world—our forgotten belonging and vast response-abilities.”
—Tom Montgomery Fate, Professor Emeritus, College of DuPage and author of Cabin Fever and The Long Way Home
“What these poems share is a willingness to pay attention. And that attention is not passive. It is a form of care. A choice to stay in relationship with a world that is changing, but not yet lost. That is the thread connecting this book to the larger work of the United By Nature Initiative. We are not just assembling data. We are building a portrait of nature in this country―and of the people who live in relationship with it.”
—Phillip Levin, Ph.D., Professor of Practice, University of Washington and Director of the United By Nature Initiative
Editors
Luisa A. Igloria is the author of Caulbearer (Immigrant Writing Series Prize, Black Lawrence Press, 2024), 14 other books, and four chapbooks. She is lead editor of Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States (2023), offered as a companion to the Fifth National Climate Assessment (NCA5). Originally from Baguio City, she makes her home in Norfolk, VA where she is the Louis I. Jaffe and University Professor of English and Creative Writing at Old Dominion University. She also leads workshops for and is a member of the board of The Muse Writers Center. Luisa is the 20th Poet Laureate of the Commonwealth of Virginia (2020-22), Emerita. During her term, the Academy of American Poets awarded her a 2021 Poet Laureate Fellowship.
Aileen Cassinetto is the co-founder of Paloma Press and a co-editor of Dear Human at the Edge of Time: Poems on Climate Change in the United States (2023). Her work has been honored by the Academy of American Poets, America Media, Brilliant Poetry, Metro Film and Arts Foundation, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. A former poet laureate of San Mateo County, California, she serves as Commissioner on the Status of Women for San Mateo County.
David Hassler is the Bob and Walt Wick Executive Director at Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center. With Poets for Science founder Jane Hirshfield, he and the Wick Poetry Center have led the Poets for Science initiative since 2017. He is the author or editor of ten books of poetry and nonfiction, and co-author of articles on poetry, technology, and healing in the Journal of Palliative Medicine, the Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, and the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing. His awards include Ohio Poet of the Year, the Ohioana Book Award, and the Carter G. Woodson Honor Book Award.
