A new metaphor is as useful in the climate fight as a new solar panel design. We need poets engaged in this battle, and this volume is proof that in fact they’re in the vanguard!
Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College and leader of the anti-carbon campaign group 350.org.
Editor Isabelle Kenyon speaks about brand-new anthology of eco-poetry, photography and art: Planet in Peril.
“Fly on the Wall as a Press aims to talk about the most pressing issues of our time, and I knew that there is possibly nothing more urgent than our current fight against the rising temperature of our planet. Anthology “Planet in Peril” is founded upon the belief that words have the power to change and I have been extremely heartened and emboldened by the passion and heart of the creatives featured, aged 8 to 80. I believe that no book can ever come close to describing the devastation which climate change is currently causing and will continue to cause to many ecosystems. However, in my humble opinion, this anthology certainly comes close. Divided into sections of vital ecosystems and continents, the artists weave the world as they see it: the beauty, the intricacy, the devastation and the vulnerability. Some imagine a dystopian future, or perhaps what is now becoming a reality, for our future generations.
For this project we will be fundraising for WWF and The Climate Coalition. Dr Michelle Cain (Oxford University), has kindly written a foreword which really brings home what this book aims to do: interweave scientific research with artistic disciplines. The former Derbyshire Poet Laureate, Helen Mort, and Brazilian based wildlife photographer, Emily Gellard have been commissioned and really bring a sparkle to the book.
This project will extend beyond print media, however. Our children and our children’s children will have to live with the potentially irreversible effects of climate change. Consequently, I have decided to run several initiatives intended to involve and educate children of all ages in this project. First, the anthology showcases a section for twenty poems submitted by writers under the age of 18. Two poetry workshops have taken place and so far, three school visit are planned, designed to engage them in poetry writing and art inspired by the book and its themes.”
Further details can be found at Fly On The Wall Press. Enquiries should be addressed to [email protected]
Pre-order your copy of Planet in Peril. Special discount code to Inksters:
INKPANTRY10 (valid until the 4th of August 2019).
Extract from Kittiwakes by Sue Proffit
Bursting from the cliff-face
in an urgency of light,
catherine wheel of wings
flinging its spirals seawards
over glittering water,
they pocket the cliff
in hairs-breadth nests
where chicks stick, smudge-eyed –
the growing silence
is sucking them out
of rock, water, rapturous air,
leaves me bereft –
so few of you left.
Extract from ‘where she once danced’ by Anne Casey
she is drowning in a sea awash with cobalt
deadly metals fill the channels where she breathes
her lovely limbs are shackled down with plastics
her lungs are laced with deadly manganese
a crown of thorns to pierce her pretty head
a bed of sludge to lull her in her dreams
