The Medicine Woods
Like new rainwater in an old wooden barrel,
I am linked forever to the ancient earth,
compassed by the medicine woods, keeping
peace and health within the braided circle.
From “Birthright”
The Medicine Woods is a graceful and soul-stirring meditation on how our planet’s future lies in the ability to embrace the oneness of life and practice nonviolence toward each other, the trees, the seas, and all beings. In this second collection of awe-inspiring poetry, Danita Dodson uplifts the ecological stewardship that obliges us to seek healing in its many forms—to walk in the woods, to cure waters, to return the soil to its original state of health, to mend broken hearts and minds, to give justice to the oppressed. With perceptive musicality and stunning natural imagery, the poet offers the spirit of what her grandmother sought when she ventured into the East Tennessee woods to find medicinal plants to heal her family—poems that carry an imaginative ethnobotanical essence as they distill curative words in this time of climate change and escalating violence. Uniting the natural and the divine, and connecting the hills of Appalachia with the planetary landscape, Dodson’s mystical verses exemplify the wisdom of a poet with a love of place, illuminating the deep connection to the land that underlies the desire to love it, to protect it, and to listen to its stories.
Praise for Danita Dodson’s The Medicine Woods
“In a world altered forever by climate change, these poems lead [DD1] us to remember and call upon the healing properties of flora and fauna—the woodlands—because ‘the earth is borrowed from our children’ and the ‘days of swinging grapevines . . . are slipping into oblivion.’ These poems are necessary when even the memory of abundant medicinal plants and calling their names can steady, guide, and heal our souls.
—Hilda Downer, author of Wiley’s Last Resort
“Danita Dodson’s Zen-graced poems are restorative reminders of our indissoluble connection to creation. Keenly aware of the devastating effects of what Thoreau termed our ‘war on wilderness,’ Dodson evokes a spirit of oneness, her words serving as energic units of healing for an anguished planet. To this end, she summons her considerable talents as mystic, alchemist, and augur extraordinaire. Reading The Medicine Woods is transformative and affirming.”
—Edward Francisco, author of The Ever Changing Sky: Meditations on the Psalms
“Stop and listen. You can hear it, feel it. Look more closely than you ever have. From holy trees and river stones to the five-lined skink, come and explore the healing power of the medicine woods. Deeply rooted in her Appalachian home, yet a wanderer in the wider world, Dodson is devoted to nature and spirituality. In these powerful poems, each one a meditation, she has reaffirmed for me the importance of defending the earth.”
—Ann Shurgin, author of While the Whippoorwill Called
“Danita Dodson’s latest book of poems, The Medicine Woods, is a beacon that lights the way for humankind to find healing and sanctuary in nature. Medicine lives in the woods. And nature is a meditative prayer. The Medicine Woods imparts that all beings on Earth are intrinsically connected. These poems implore us to consider our human footprint and take better care of our wise, ancient soils, ‘to return to the wholesome ancestral voices of the keepers.’”
—Delonda Anderson, editor of Appalachia Bare