Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 131
of darkness’. There’s a long
dead baby mammoth and
a deer’s head wreathed in
flowers floating down the
Hudson. Dogs make a regular
appearance and they are
always joyful. “Ned scrawls
his self-delighted wild-boy
trace/ over the slopes of grass,
but we can’t stay long/ since
it’s a day I need to go into
the city”. It’s worth noting
that dog lovers, and anyone
who enjoyed H Is For Hawk,
might also want to read his
2008 book, Dog Years, which
described his relationship
with two hounds whilst his
partner was dying of HIV.
Deep Lane is a book I
want to buy for everyone,
partly because it’s so lyrical
and skilfully done, but also
because it’s like watching
Orpheus turn round when
he shouldn’t: a moment that
encapsulates human tragedy
and bereavement. Even after
everything he did, Orpheus
still couldn’t bring Euridice
back from the underworld
because he was just too
human. Doty lived through
the AIDS epidemic and
knows better than most that
we’re all just too human.
I love Doty’s urbanity and
his need to write about his
18th Street barber in the same
way that he writes about the
twisted and gnarled cherry
tree in the closing poem of
the collection. Nature is not
elsewhere or separate, it is
everywhere he wants to find
it. It’s elemental.
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