Anyone who knows me well knows that I love the work of Wendell Berry. I was thrilled to see a new collection of Berry’s “mad farmer” poems published by Counterpoint Press.
I picked up two copies of The Mad Farmer Poems, one for myself and one for my favorite fellow Berryphile, my colleague Don Whitney.
This edition is a beautiful large volume with engravings by illustrator Abigail Rorer. My favorite work in the collection is Berry’s poem “Some Further Words,” which includes these lines:
Let me be plain with you, dear reader.
I am an old-fashioned man. I like
the world of nature despite its mortal
dangers. I like the domestic world
of humans, so long as it pays its debts
to the natural world, and keeps its bounds.
I like the promise of Heaven. My purpose
is a language that can pay just thanks
and honor for those gifts, a tongue
set free from fashionable lies.
There’s something a bit perverse about ordering a Wendell Berry book via amazon.com, but one can do it here.
