This past summer I paddled the Missinaibi River from Missinaibi Lake to Mattice. In the evenings around the campfire, I would read a poem or two from this volume.

Berry’s a farmer from Kentucky, so it might seem odd that his poems felt appropriate in the Northern Ontario wilderness, but that’s what you get with Berry. He is so connected and intimately familiar with his location, his writing transcends that place and becomes universally applicable.

This book is organized chronologically, containing poems written between 1979 and 1997. The poems at the start of the book are profound. By the end of the book, they’re sublime. I’ll leave you with one of his shortest works to whet your appetite.

The seed is in the ground.
Now may we rest in hope
While darkness does it’s work.

Berry, Wendell. A Timbered Choir. Counterpoint, 1998.