Sherry Chandler

More on NILAS

I have been talking to Patricia Monaghan, editor of the current NILAS Newsletter. Patricia says:

NILAS is an interesting and important organization, one that breaks down the barriers between academic and non-academic intellectual work. Storytellers, poets, and other creative types are as much part of NILAS as those with academic appointments (the current president is a storyteller).

I was pleased with the femininity of the [current newsletter] collection … that more women seemed to be writing (and writing VERY well) about plants. Also the underlying theme of sensuality–it was all a bit like having the literary equivalent of Georgia O’Keeffe coming into my mailbox.

I give you one more poem from the Fall 2004 Newsletter, this one from Frankfort poet Normandi Ellis. Normandi is the president-elect of the National Association of Poetry Therapy Foundation and works with elders and youth at risk. While Ann Lederer’s poem dealt with harvest and the season’s end, Normandi’s gives us the season’s beginning. These last few sunny lengthening days – some of them warm – remind me that the earth is turning and soon, none too soon to suit me, it will be –

Late April, John’s Branch

This morning on yesterday’s shorn lawn –
dandelion tufts
and rain-drenched violets.
Redbuds recede into green leafing
trees. Bluebells bloom their last
among the tall creek bank grass.
Blues and pinks fade fast –
now comes the season of white dogwood and locusts,
a season of yellow wood poppies.
Underneath the green umbrella of leaves
white mayapples flower.
Rain drips into the red
upturned lips of trillium.

Handing down and trading plants is, it seems to me, a tradition with women so writing about them should come natural to us. The white trillium pictured here has bloomed against the north side of our house for thirty plus years, surviving drought and flood. My late mother-in-law brought it here from the Red River Gorge during a time when the river was going to be dammed and folk were allowed to take what they could find. Fortunately, that damming did not happen, and I consider the trillium a legacy that I guard with care.

The theme of the next NILAS Newsletter (Winter 2005) will be “Experiencing Animal Presence: Totemism, Shapeshifting, Story” – nonfiction and fiction, poetry and artworks that evoke cross-species empathy and communication through what NILAS refers to as totemic expression. Submissions should be e-mailed to Marion W. Copeland, guest editor, or mailed to her at

128 Amherst Road
Pelham, MA 01002

Deadline for submission: Monday March 14, 2005

Addendum: I highly recommend Patricia Monaghan’s two latest collections of poems: Dancing with Chaos (Salmon, 2003) and Homefront (FootHills, 2004).

Possibly related posts:

Nature in Legend and Story (NILAS)

Coffee Talk Quarterly

Brenda White

“Tobacco Mosaic”

Something to ponder

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