Unchopping a Tree

Liz Ward is a professor of art and art history at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, and an artist who works primarily in painting and drawing with an emphasis on works on paper. She received her M.F.A. in painting from the University of Houston and her B.F.A. in printmaking from the University of New Mexico. The art included in W. S. Merwin's Unchopping a Tree is from her series "The Cellular Life of a Tree." She lives in Castroville, Texas.

"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"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"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."—Rain Taxi“In his personal anonymity, his strict individuated manner, his defense of the earth, and his heartache at time’s passing, Merwin has become instantly recognizable on the page; he has made for himself that most difficult of creations, an accomplished style.”— OrionBR>“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.”— Atlantic MonthlyBR>“Merwin is one of the great poets of our age.”— Los Angeles Times