Dark Horses and Little Turtles: And Other Poems from the Anthropocene

Richard Stephen Felger

In the last work published before his passing in 2020, the noted botanist and ecologist Richard Felger turns to poetry to explore the Southwestern desert in a time of catastrophic change, finding hope in the beauty of the natural world.

For a sample, see here.

$20 paperbound + $5 postage and handling (also available at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble)

$15 PDF

ISBN 978-0-9843892-1-6

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Reader, beware, something in these poems may leap out at you like a big extinct sharp-toothed cat or a trickster god—both of whom prowl this book—or like your own anger and fear about the state of the world, so many humans now and not enough turtles. Don’t worry. There’s plenty of hope here, too, and sex and sly humor. Be prepared to time travel. Settle in, of course, for a green ride on the names of plants, letting them roll deliciously in your mouth, remembering from your own history: screwbean, amaranth, jojoba, chia. Remembering from a deeper history: perennial saltgrass, Distichlis palmeri.

A renowned ethnobotanist and scholar, Richard Felger is also a dedicated adventurer, ready to rock and roll. He’s prepared to take you with him.

—Sharman Apt Russell, author and winner of the 2016 John Burroughs Medal