I was very impressed with the wide range of poetry in this book. The editors have done a great job of including a variety of English-speaking poets from many different countries and cultures, and featuring diverse voices and poetics. The result is many perspectives on how people connect with the natural world. It contains everything from the epic “Song of Mahogany” by Malika Booker to the intimacy of the commonplace, such as Imtiaz Dharker’s “How to Cut a Pomegranate.” There are poems celebrating the Earth's durability and those expressing the pain of experiencing the careless destruction of life. There’s humor, there’s grief, there’s simplicity, there’s complexity. It highlights the ways we’re indebted to nature for sustenance and enriching experiences, and as well celebrates language and the elasticity of poetic expression.

Nature Matters is divided into four sections: Earth, Air, Water and Fire. It was nice to have some order within the larger theme. In the back, it also has an index of authors and an index of first lines. However there are no poet bios, which is a shame since it had the potential to introduce poets to readers across national boundaries.

So who is this book for? It’s for anyone who enjoys nature poetry. It could be a summer reading book to take to the beach or to a cabin. It would work as a book club book, being ripe for discussion of both the topics and the poetics. It could be a book used in an upper level classroom to show students the different ways poets approach a general theme.

It’s rare for me to give an anthology greater than a 3-star rating because anthologies are by their nature a mixed bag, but this one is a cut above. The editors have managed to keep the mix fascinating, contemporary, and focused on the natural world.

I very much enjoyed this!
I loved the introduction, it was actually my favorite part of the collection. Please don't skip it when you pick this up.
I loved the representation-It was FULL of BIPOC authors from all over and I adored the diversity.
It was also the perfect read for Earth day that recently passed! All the poems each had their own unique flavor of love for Mother Earth and her heart and hum. I really, really enjoyed this one.