I picked up “The Unauthorized Audubon” by Laura DeLind and Anita Skeen a few years ago. I had taken Skeen’s “One Book, One Community” writing class through the East Lansing Public Library a couple of times and always enjoyed what she shared.
If you listened to the old podcast, you may have caught Skeen’s episode.
“The Unauthorized Audubon” is a partnership between Skeen and artist DeLind, who is an anthropologist at Michigan State University. With one exception, DeLind provided the artwork and Skeen the poetry. Their subjects were birds, not quite fantastical (though Skeen would probably say all birds are fantastical) but definitely invented. Or, as the creators put it in their introduction, “you will not find the birds nesting in this collection in “Birds of Michigan: A Field Guide.”
Nesting.
I love it.
While my personal favorites in this collection had references to death, “The Unauthorized Audubon” is, overall, light-hearted. It’s a good pick if you like poetry about nature in a more literal sense. I feel like a lot of poets are obsessed with nature but with Skeen, the feather is not merely symbolic.
My two favorites were “Corbie Rex” (for the line “I spread my wings, the stars fall, the moon buttons shut.”) and the penultimate “Courier Owl” (for the line “you will never see this bird if you have not been smacked by death, stomped stupid by loss”).
Read joyfully. More poetry tomorrow.