More Turtle Island Poems

I really liked the poem The Great Mother. This draws the attention of the reader and makes them account for their own actions on Earth, which is what Snyder intended. Snyder wants the reader to realize the impact that they have had on the environment and Mother Nature. This poem also demonstrates the different belief systems of Snyder. The Great Mother could be Mother Nature, or a Native American spirit. Readers could also interpret this to be some other great being.

In The Dead by the Side of the Road, the theme was encroachment. This poem discussed the consequences and environmental impact that humans and civilization create. Roads cut through the natural environment, and in this poem, many animals died as a result of the roads and careless humans that hit them.

The final poem I read was Affluence. This poem emphasized the waste of natural materials. Trees are very valuable to the environment and are essential for life. Sometimes humans are greedy and take more than they need. Wasting the natural resources of Earth is only contributing to the many problems of today, and I believe this is what Snyder was trying to make the reader understand.