Nature, As One Sees It

In part one, "A Celebration," the reader experiences some of the places and creatures in Florida and Philadelphia that inspired William Bartram’s great nature work, Travels. Bennett translates poetically Bartram’s observations into a contemporary two hundredth anniversary setting. "Tidemarks" lyrically transports the reader to Bennett’s summer coastal haunts in Maine and Washington. Here the creatures and habitats are in sharp contrast to those that appear in the Florida settings. The natural history of north central Florida, in and around a swimming pool set in a mesic hammock, is the subject for "Aquarius." "At the Beach" gives Bennett’s insights into the cultural and natural history of Florida’s gulf coast. A native Floridian, Bennett has combined his scientific and museum experiences along with an appreciation of natural history in this four-part nature work. Mary Oliver has commented about the author: "Peter Bennett is an accomplished professional in the field of natural science. His poems – primarily meditations upon this natural world – are succinct and wry. Their intent is not to persuade through language but, through the imposition of informed fact upon our consciousness, to make the reader come to a necessary conclusion."