THE NATURE OF THINGS

"Nature never did betray the heart that loved her," wrote William Wordsworth.

Sixty four writers expressed their love of nature in THE NATURE OF THINGS.  Old Mountain Press just released this fabulous anthology as fall paints a masterpiece from the mountains to the foaming ocean waves.  It's a celebration of nature.

The cover photo was taken by Publisher Tom Davis from the front porch of the Old Mountain Press overlooking the Tuckasegee River in Webster, NC.  Anyone who loves nature will savor this collection of prose and poetry.

You'll find birds, flowers, insects, animals, plants, and a blackberry patch in this book.  Each piece forms a patchwork quilt about the splendor of nature.

Tom Davis describes "The Great Blue Heron":

glides with wings six feet tip to tip
along the winding Tuckasegee
flairs and lights on the bank
among the mountain rhododendrons...

Another poem by Celia Miles captures the splendor of "Owl":

Solitary, perched in twilight
watching, in the guise of
meditating, the world go by,
I am wise or indifferent
in my daytime Penseroso pose...

Barbara Ledford Wright tells about a hummingbird building a nest in her front door wreath in "Unrelenting Resident."  Other works about hummingbirds include Phyllis Jean Green's poem, "Birdsong"; Al Manning's, "Boss Bird," and Charlotte Wolf writes in "Imagine":

yourself perched
at the edge of a great precipice
feeling lighter than air, imagine

being not exactly weightless but spare
at barely three grams of bone and heart
beating 260 times a minute with wings folded
holding on with barely useful feet...

Poetry about flowers also were included in this collection.  Terri Kirby Erickson paints a painting with "Irises":

By the stone wall on top
of which my mother balanced as a child,

grow the purple irises
my grandmother planted still blooming...

Stuart Burroughs also describes beautiful flowers in "The Tulips":

On a damp and foggy morning
when my feelings slide inside
then I think about the tulips--
how they leaned into the air
and nodded with the wind--
and I smile within...

The splendor of springtime was also addressed in Blanche L. Ledford's poem, "Bluebird":

Early this morning a bluebird
cuts through the cobalt skies
and lands on the power lines.

Taste the moment:
strawberries ripen in the cove,
purple crocuses peep

through the verdant grass,
daffodils dot the pasture
like churned butter...

The theme of animals was also addressed in this anthology:  "Squirrels at Play," Thomas Gluzinski; "Bison," Claudette Cohen; "The Squirrel Proof Feeder," Ines Illgen; and Lynn Veach Sadler goes ANIMALISTIC in "Playing Possum."

Insects buzz in this collection, too.  The poetry ranges from "Learning From Bees," Marian Kaplun Shapiro; "Natures's Humble Bumblebee," Robert Hewett, Sr." and in Barbara H. Kenyon's poem, "Ants in the Kitchen," there were five hundred 'n' seven, five hundred 'n' eight that show up.

You'll also find poetry and prose about the seasons that writers like best.  Susan Sadowski writes a fabulous poem about "Courting Summer":

Impatiently, I have dreamed
Of your faithful return.
Hot for me, we are entwined
From dawn through dusk.

Growing in lusciousness, you flirt,
Until ripe with ruby skin, I taste you.
Entice me; beg for further freedom, Dearest,
Until you burst within my mouth,
Tomato-on-the-Vine...

But Jordon Rhodes addressed in his prose that the way of nature is hard to explain.  It's magnificent and breath taking, but without warning nature tears off the roof of a home or business.  Who can explain the mystery of nature?  "The Puzzlement of Nature" best concludes THE NATURE OF THINGS.

To order copies of this anthology, THE NATURE OF THINGS, contact:  www.OldMountainPress.com.