Earth's Biography - Passionately Written (Rating 5 of 5)
» Dana Laake
Ken Ingham's "Ecoepic" is a powerful poetic biography of our precious planet Earth written with a passion that only a child of mother Earth can accomplish. Whatever your opinions prior to reading the book - you can not explore its pages without being awestruck by its truth, beauty and depth. With poetry as the medium, Ken teaches as he weaves science, humor, truth, anger and reverence. It is a book of transformation that resonates within.
My favorite part is the opening epic, "Evolution of Tumorous Times". It is a beautiful journey from the universe's beginning through Earth's birth and infancy and into the present. In the part titled "Emegence" he offers wisdom and vision. In Ken's "Other Poems" there is such a wide variety. My favorite, "Whose Duck," can not be read without a lump in the throat and ache in the heart.
There are instruction books for every aspect of our lives from birthing and childcare through maintenance of all of the machines in our lives - but so few that teach us to how to understand and inhabit our home - the Earth. "Ecopepic" is far beyond a book of poems, it belongs as a primer for life to be read by all! I have given copies to my children and will be reading it to my grandchildren.
Dana Laake
Author: The Kid-Friendly ADHD & Autism Cookbook
A Passionate Treatise, Plus (Rating 4 of 5)
» Leland Jamieson
If everyone had Ken Ingham's passion for the planet Earth, we'd not have global warming accelerating in a parabolic curve upward and off the charts, causing artic tundra to turn into lakes bubbling methane measured in magnitudes of 100 tons per day.
If everyone had his passion they would understand that Earth (Gaia) is the heroine and is a living organism, and in that sense an epic should be written about her. Hence, I gather, the title, ECOEPIC, or eco-epic. Unfortunately the coined word lacks resonance and is a hard sell. Yet, the title poem came alive for me with the introduction of the antagonist, the swamp developer, on page 40, but he seemed to lose his focal position, and what had felt to me like a treatise up until that point became one again. Not that we don't need a treatise on restoring health to Gaia.
So what I take home from the title poem is the poet's passion for nurturing Gaia back to health --- and it is so strong one finishes the poem feeling that he personally knows the poet. That is worth the price of admission. Thank you, Ken Ingham.
"And other poems" is a definite plus, and contains some real gems, I thought. In my copy I earmarked for subsequent re-reading "Connecting with Creation" for its ability to make the reader feel at one with Nature, "Whose Duck?" for it's skillful play of conflict between a hunter and a courageous woman and a surprise ending, and "I Am Endangered" for its central truth encapsulated in a marvelous closing metaphor
(Rating 5 of 5)
(Rating 4 of 5)
