J. Drew Lanham

"You are a rare bird, easy to see but invisible just the same." That thought is close at hand in Sparrow Envy: Field Guide to Birds and Lesser Beasts, as renowned naturalist and writer J. Drew Lanham explores his obsession with birds and all things wild in a mixture of poetry and prose. He questions vital assumptions taken for granted by so many birdwatchers: can birding be an escape if the birder is not in a safe place? Who is watching him as he watches birds? With a refreshing balance of reverence and candor, Lanham paints a unique portrait of the natural world: listening to cicadas, tracking sandpipers, towhees, wrens, and cataloging fellow birdwatchers at a conference where he is one of two black birders. The resulting insights are as honest as they are illuminating.

Sparrow Envy

Emiley Jones

If wildness is a wish then I'm rubbing the lamp hard for a million more wandering moments.

Izzy Pugh

and never forget the sins of past imperfections too, to not repeat the hubris of taking good for granted. But letting creatures have their own names. No interference from haters required.

I saunter along the daily disaster dealt by the deep

or a shell strong enough to see me through

 I exist exxposed on some intertidal plain 

in between high water wishes and low tide wants 

unbalanced on the shifting of should and should not 

Sparrow Envy quotes

Join the club