A Third Batch

                Starting off with “The Call of the Wild”, a poem about how wilderness should be in all of us, but it is not. The poem is about an old man who will have a coyote trapped and taken away because it howls in the night. This is upsetting for Snyder because he says that the howls are music that his sons are starting to enjoy. Another part of the poem talks about other landowners who do not appreciate what they have. They sell huge, old trees because they are told of the unpleasant things that are inside of them. Many people do not understand that bugs and animals are all over the world and hidden throughout nature. In the poem, Snyder also talks about people waging war. People drop bombs and destroy nature and kill innocent animals. They release poisons into the world without fearing any repercussions to the environment. Snyder finishes off the poem by saying that he would wish to say that nature and the call of the wild is inside everyone, but it isn’t.

                The next poem, “Mother Earth: Her Whales”, is about the usage of the worlds natural resources and government action. The first country mentioned is Brazil, home of the world’s largest rainforest. The Amazon is home to tens of thousands of plant and animal species, but has been under a constant state of deforestation for a number of years now. Every day plant species are wiped out and animals lose their homes. Snyder then says that the government figure that is called “Brazil” cannot speak for all of these dying species. In Japan, whale hunters devastate the ocean giants. Snyder is disgusted that a “once-great Buddhist nation” could come to such a low, violent point. China and the USA have also lost numerous amounts of species due to human actions. Snyder finishes off the poem by calling the animals and the plants of the world to action. The government “robots” cannot go around making the decisions for the world about something they do not understand.

                The final poem is one that very much has to do with the idea of place. “Rain in Alleghany” is simply about what the title says, how it is in Alleghany when raining. Alleghany is a small mining town that has been an operational gold mine since the California Gold Rush. Snyder comments that the land is bumpy and worn like that of a miner’s hand. Alleghany can be taken as a peaceful place because of how Snyder describes a time of rain. It simply involves enjoying a beer along with the rain, but “how we love it”. Alleghany does not need all the excitement of a huge metropolis to be an enjoyable place. Snyder loves it even more for this. All Snyder needs is the peace of the area.