Diana Woodcock

Desert Ecology: Lessons and Visions

I was introduced to a local artist and wildflower expert who, every spring after the rains, took us out into the desert to search for flowers and other treasures, animals like the Blue-headed agama, the Horned viper and the Sand cat.

"Desert Ecology: Lessons and Visions," Streetlight Magazine, November 16, 2014.

Praise

“In the poem ‘Desert-Bound,’ we read: ‘In the desert, / compassion-filled, one lets nothing / go unnoticed . . .’ How better to describe the spirit sustaining Diana Woodcock’s new and admirable collection Desert Ecology. The desert may appear barren, but we know it is not—mostly through the sonorous language of its flora and fauna, from gerbils to jirds, from the Cistanche tubulosa to the date palm. Thus are we drawn into moments of intense awareness and quiet meditation, in a world ‘calling us to love / without judgement, with absolute abandon.’ What a journey to undertake in the company of this eloquent and acutely sensitive poet.”

– Sofia M. Starnes, author of Fully Into Ashes, A Commerce of Moments

“An entrancing untamed song of the wild that mustn't be missed.”

– L.M. Browning, author of Fleeting Moments of Fierce Clarity

“Just as we appreciate precision in poetic language in general, Off the Coast values technical language that flows seamlessly in content and syntax. Diana Woodcock’s Desert Ecology elevates the discourse and celebrates both subject and context simultaneously.”

– Valerie Lawson and Michael Brown, co-editors of Off the Coast

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