The Timbered Choir - Review

Sierra, Nov, 1998

The Timbered Choir by Wendell Berry (Counterpoint, $22). The idea of a quiet Sabbath sounds quaint in an era when the day of rest is often consecrated to the God of Economy with trips to hallowed malls. But Wendell Berry manages to spend the Sabbath ecstatically doing nothing, a practice he says benefits both the environment and the soul. The poems in this collection sum up 18 years' worth of Sabbaths in the woods and fields, where Berry contemplates the miracles and mysteries of God, nature, and our place in the cosmic choir. Finding wonder in "the blessed conviviality" of Creation, Berry says the trees that "reclaim the land" are both preachers and cathedrals:

Slowly, slowly, they return/To the small woodland let alone:/Great trees, outspreading and upright/Apostles of the living light.

From psalm to dark prophecy, from prayer to satire, there's a range of passion in these simple verses, accessible even for folks who don't usually look to poetry for inspiration.