WS MERWIN & Liz Ward—UNCHOPPING A TREE—1st HC—"What a delight"

Description: • For your consideration: • A First Edition Thus in Hardcover of: • “UNCHOPPING A TREE: The Interior Life of a Tree” (Trinity University Press, 2014) • BY W. S. MERWIN • ILLUSTRATED BY LIZ WARD • ABOUT THIS BOOK: • “What a delight, in an era when every book seems to require a tome, to hold in one’s hands a slim, nicely bound book whose text can be read in its entirety in five minutes—and asks only for re-reading many more times to come! And whose illustrations are subtle, sweet and engaging to the eye! Such a book is UNCHOPPING A TREE.” —THE BUDDHIST DIARIES (BLOG) • “W. S. MERWIN’s UNCHOPPING A TREE is a wonderfully meditative poem/essay that will resonate with anyone in craft, conservation, technology, or environmentalism. It articulates the hubris of humans when working with natural materials by emphasizing the complex and one-directional time-bound nature of growth and craft.” —PEACHEY CONSERVATION (BLOG) • “Part prose poem, part ecology lesson and part Zen instruction manual, UNCHOPPING A TREE shares a mystical blueprint for healing the planet—the intricate, often invisible web of biological life—that our species so casually destroys. The book is made even more unique by artist LIZ WARD’s contribution of 11 delicate drawings depicting the cellular life of trees.” —CASCADIA WEEKLY • “I rarely review books on Amazon but W. S. MERWIN’s book, UNCHOPPING A TREE, is a true gem. I posted this, this morning on Amazon. I am stroked and touched by the leaves in this book that open me to the leanings and learnings of trees: ‘Touched. This book contains all we need to know. I am stroked by holding it in my hand, then, opening each page carefully, pages given by a tree, with words and drawings that reach inside, and take me apart and put me together again and again. This book is a treasure, and a wonderful gift for one’s self and others. I am held in the friendship and teachings of trees. I am moved to open and close with the breath of leaves, leaves of a book, leaves of trees.’ I recommend this book. It will feed something you may not even know you need.” —CATHY EDGETT (BLOG) • “The title of this beautifully printed book may seem idealistically fanciful, as if somehow a tree can be ‘unchopped’ after it has been knocked down. MERWIN goes through a set of near-surreal exercises here, complemented by the subtle yet ennobling art of LIZ WARD…. This collection of pristine prose poems and delicately rendered art is surely a reminder that perhaps our wanton destruction of the planet can be reversed. Some might say, a single tree—who cares? The poet and artist here remind us that we cannot do so and remain ethical.” —JAMES NAIDEN, RAIN TAXI • “UNCHOPPING A TREE is a beautiful little book, a still-timely parable that avoids being preachy through its seeming whimsy.”—HANNAH FRIES, TERRAIN • “W. S. MERWIN, the Pulitzer-winning former U.S. poet laureate, captures the essence of treeness in the delightful and insightful UNCHOPPING A TREE.... Lyrical drawings of the cellular structure of a tree by LIZ WARD complement and enhance the humble beauty of MERWIN's descriptions.” —SHELF AWARENESS • “Suppose you chopped down a tree and then regretted it because, after all, a tree is a beautiful thing in nature. What to do? Firewood? Board feet? Or, you might consider unchopping it by following the instructions of W. S. MERWIN, a man of proven ecological insight and robust poetic tendencies, to put it back together, leaf by leaf, limb by limb, splinter by splinter.” —FOREWORD MAGAZINE • “MERWIN is a dedicated environmentalist who has created a preserve for palm species near Haiku, and in his sparse prose he uses the image of raising a fallen tree as a device to explore themes of renewal and preservation.” —HONOLULU STAR-ADVERTISER • “On the last day of the world, I would want to plant a tree.” —W. S. MERWIN, FROM HIS POEM “PLACE” (1998) •• ABOUT THE AUTHOR: • “MERWIN’s insistence on a poetry of imaginative utility, against the encroachments of decades of literary fads, has succeeded in giving his imagined worlds some of the tangible pleasures and horrors we associate with real ones. Like STEVENS, whose old-age poems are perhaps the greatest ever written, MERWIN can say he ‘recomposed’ the constituents of his vision. But he also planted and tended a palm forest that is now permanently protected and open to the public. His poems, like that forest, are a kind of time preserve.” —DAN CHIASSON, THE NEW YORKER • “One of the most highly decorated poets in the nation, and very likely the world. He was the UNITED STATES POET LAUREATE from 2010 to 2011; won two PULITZER PRIZES, a NATIONAL BOOK AWARD and a spate of other honors [including] the inaugural TANNING PRIZE from the Academy of American Poets; THE BOLLINGEN PRIZE FOR POETRY from Yale; the LILA WALLACE-READER’S DIGEST WRITERS’ AWARD; the RUTH LILLY POETRY PRIZE from the Poetry Foundation; and the PEN TRANSLATION PRIZE…. In 1952, MR. MERWIN’s first collection, A MASK FOR JANUS, was awarded THE YALE YOUNGER POETS PRIZE. A formative award in the field, the prize was judged in those years by W. H. AUDEN.” —NEW YORK TIMES, AUTHOR’S OBITUARY (2019) • “MERWIN received virtually every honor a poet could ask for—more, it turned out, than he desired. Citing the Vietnam War, he declined a PULITZER in 1971 for THE CARRIER OF LADDERS, saying that he was ‘too conscious of being an American to accept public congratulation with good grace, or to welcome it except as an occasion for expressing openly a shame which many Americans feel.’ He also rejected membership in the National Institute of Arts and Letters, now the American Academy of Arts and Letters, but changed his mind five years later, in 1977.” —ASSOCIATED PRESS, AUTHOR’S OBITUARY (2019) • “While questioning American exceptionalism, he drew comparisons to WALT WHITMAN; in his descriptions of death and absence, he was likened to SAMUEL BECKETT. He visited a mental ward to learn from EZRA POUND, lived with ROBERT GRAVES on the island of Majorca, drew the affection of Sylvia Plath, and was encouraged by ROBERT LOWELL and W.H. AUDEN.”—HARRISON SMITH, WASHINGTON POST, AUTHOR’S OBITUARY (2019) • “MERWIN seemed to celebrate life while contesting loss, and was especially concerned with violence and destruction, of both people and planet. He restored a farm in south-west France, and in Hawaii eventually replanted some 3,000 acres devastated by timber harvests and the pineapple industry. It reflected his own poetic work, engaged with both the bleak and beautiful.” —MICHAEL CARLSON, AUTHOR’S OBITUARY, THE GUARDIAN (UK, 2019) • “While we have lost a tremendous friend, the loss to American poetry is even more profound. From the stylistic inventions, he introduced to the catalyzing force of his work in translation and international poetics, his influence on American poetry has been without equal.”—MICHAEL WIEGERS, MERWIN’S EDITOR AT COPPER CANYON PRESS • “MR. MERWIN wrote leaves of poetry, but he also grew real trees, thousands of them, creating beauty out of thin air and fostering life beyond his own. Even in paradise, no one lives forever, but both MR. MERWIN’s poems and his palms will outlive us all.”—A. HOPE JAHREN, NEW YORK TIMES (2019) • “He is an artist with a very clear spiritual profile, and intellectual and moral consistency, which encompasses both his work and his life.”—EDWARD HIRSCH • “In his personal anonymity, his strict individuated manner, his defense of the earth, and his heartache at time’s passing, MERWINhas become instantly recognizable on the page; he has made for himself that most difficult of creations, an accomplished style.” ―ORION • “The intentions of MERWIN’s poetry are as broad as the biosphere yet as intimate as a whisper. He conveys in the sweet simplicity of grounded language a sense of the self where it belongs, floating between heaven, earth, and the underground.” —PETER DAVISON, THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY • “MERWIN is one of the great poets of our age.” —LOS ANGELES TIMES •• For other details, please see below. • TITLE: “UNCHOPPING A TREE: The Interior Life of a Tree” AUTHOR: W.S. MERWIN DRAWINGS: LIZ WARD DESIGN: DAVID BULLEN TYPE: HARDCOVER PAGES: 47+ PUBLISHER, LOCALE, & YEAR: Trinity University Press (San Antonio), 2014 ISBN: 978-1-59534-187-7 EDITION: First Edition Thus* *RE: On the Copyright Page, this Year Row: “18 17 16 15 14” & this Number Row: “5 4 3 2 1.” FIRST PUBLISHED: 1970. “Except from ‘TALE,’ originally collected in ‘THE CARRIER OF LADDERS’ [1970].” EDITION NOTE: This copy is NEITHER Ex-Library NOR a Book Club Edition. CONDITION of BOARDS (NOT ISSUED WITH DJ): VERY GOOD PLUS.Boards are clean with sharp corners. There are light creases near the spine tips but tips are fine. Faint signs of (normal) handling on sides. CONDITION of BOOK ITSELF: VERY GOOD PLUS.Book is square. Spine is tight. Text-block edges & endpapers are sharp. Pages are bright & v. clean–with no marks. Looks unread. SHIPPING NEWS: This book will be wrapped with care before being shipped in a cushioned & sturdy box. THANK YOU! ********************** /\___/\=•ᆺ•= “We believe it’s good business to be good to our customers.” *********** FLAPPINCAT’s HOUSE RULES ***********1. GENERAL TREATMENT. We enjoy treating FLAPPINCAT customers with honesty & respect & warmth because that’s how we like to be treated when we buy things on eBay.2. GENERAL ATTITUDE. We are grateful you choose to trust us with your business. We aim for that gratitude to permeate every part of how we engage with you.3. OUR DESCRIPTIONS. We describe every item we sell as clearly and accurately as we can. When it comes to describing condition, we tend toward being conservative. 4. PACKING & SHIPPING. 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Price: 26.99 USD

Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina

End Time: 2024-12-17T00:43:10.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.75 USD