New Poetry Book by Liberal Arts & Sciences Professor Dr. Diana Woodcock

June 6, 2023
Categories
Diana Full Book Screen Shot 2023 05 24 At 3.13.37 Pm

“Holy Sparks” is a collection of poems that explores what it means for humans to live in the right relationship with our planet’s life systems

Congratulations to Dr. Diana Woodcock, Associate Professor of English at Liberal Arts & Sciences department, on the release of her book “Holy Sparks”, which was a finalist for the 2020 Paraclete Press Poetry Award.

“Holy Sparks” is a collection of poems that explores what it means for humans to live in the right relationship with our planet’s life systems. The poems suggest that our very identity is tied to our respect for the natural world.

The biophilic images used throughout the poems show how reverence for the earth goes hand in hand with reverence for the Creator.

The language of poetry (such as the lines below) is used to interconnect the human, natural and sacred, and to express humanity’s moral and ethical responsibility for our nonhuman kin who co-exists with us, in our environments.

“All I require of my reader is this:
Drop the pronoun it and adopt s/he;
aspire to a higher level of thinking

about our nonhuman kin;
and consider how our thinking affects
future prospects of each species.”

 Woodcock, who is referred to as an “ecopoet”, often uses the medium of poetry to touch on the effects of human interaction with the natural environment. In addition to “Holy Sparks”, some of her other books of poetry include “Facing Aridity”, “Tread Softly”, “Under the Spell of a Persian Nightingale”, and “Swaying on the Elephant’s Shoulders”.

Since 2004, she has been teaching composition, creative writing and environmental literature at VCUarts Qatar.

Share