Overview

Step into the pages of this captivating book and accompany the poet as she embarks on walks through the vast expanse of the Great Chihuahuan Desert, accompanied by her loyal shepherd dog. In this collection of poems, the speaker emerges as a perceptive observer of the diverse flora and fauna that call this rugged landscape home. Amidst the ever-shifting cycles of flood and drought, the reader is invited to explore the tapestry of life within this arid terrain, where beauty and danger coexist. The poems illuminate the interconnectedness of all living beings, revealing how the desert's inhabitants navigate their existence amidst the harsh conditions of arroyos and towering sierras. Each poem paints a vivid portrait, capturing the essence of the creatures, plants, and people who dwell in this unforgiving yet awe-inspiring environment. Through vivid observations, scientific insights, and a deep reverence for the natural world, it celebrates the resilience and interconnectedness of all life forms in this captivating desert landscape.

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9781957840178

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Reviews

"The poems in Ridge of High Pressure pulse with passion and perception of nature's ways in the El Paso desert landscape. Robin Scofield and her dog, Winston, ""halt in the heat"" on a hike as "" the churlish coyote... steps toward us, curling her lip."" We hear about red-winged blackbirds, how ""[t]hey stay in the cottonwoods, willows/ and Tornillo Oaks here by the Rio Grande./ They don't flee like the ducks and coyotes/ when the river goes dry in winter."" Then, ""[o]n the road, we hear the music/ of the mockingbird"" and observe ""Sacred Datura by the path."" How in the late summer drought ""you would think/it might shrivel up, / but its new blooms are/ about to explode/with white light. Scofield's attention turns to the birds in her yard in Grackle Tragedy, as she watches them ""grieve as parents"" when their nestling dies. The poet reveals she has the summer blues. "" I hate this time of year: /walking before I get any bearings, /before the rascal sun screams over/the sierras."" Yet early fall brings a ""season of jeweled dragonflies"" and even in this time ""when the dark comes earlier and stays/ later;"" Scofield plants in her poem, Garden of Hope, ""crops of garlic/and cilantro, red kale and rainbow chard."" These poems with stay with you long as you journey with Robin Scofield into the desert life she seeds and savors. Susan Squellati Florence, author of Leftover Prayers What does it mean to be here in this world / of physical properties?"" asks Scofield. Throughout this book, the lives of humans, coyotes, hummingbirds, and acacia play out ""grounded in the elements"" of her uncompromising desert borderlands. Scofield's musical language and scientific understanding draw us through seasons of life and death, drought and electric rains, where ""Beauty, the terror, is full perception."" Her sure and synesthetic poems make this a ""sunshimmer"" gift, to be savored. Lisken Van Pelt Dus, author of What We're Made Of and Letters to My Dead"

Author Information

"A native of Austin, Texas, who grew up just north of Dallas, Robin Scofield is the author of Flow, named Southwest Book of the Year in 2019, and Sunflower Cantos, from Mouthfeel Press, which received advance praise from Jennifer Clement, author of Prayers for the Stolen: ""Sunflower Cantos feels like an ecstatic channeling, as if this poet had conjured our ancient, sacred word-hoard. These are stunning, mysterious poems."" Scofield graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in English and an M.A. in Creative Writing where she received the Christopher Morley Poetry Prize, and studied with Albert Goldbarth, David Wevill, and Richard Howard. She put down roots in El Paso 30 years ago and worked the academic fields as a migrant scholar, teaching everything from basic writing to Rhetoric of the Holocaust. She has been published in The Paris Review, Western Humanities Review, The Texas Observer, About Place Journal, Pilgrimage, Theology Today, The Texas Poetry Calendar, The San Pedro River Review, Cimarron Review, descant, The Ocotillo Review, and The Rio Grande Review. She writes with the Tumblewords Project in El Paso, Texas, where she lives with her husband."

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