Poetry for the Planet 2026: Voices from the Rogue Watershed (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798993514604)

Poetry for the Planet is the second themed anthology of original poetry from local poets-living and writing in the Rogue River watershed in Southern Oregon-launched by cottage publisher, N8tive Run Press, as a missive of activism for our communities, in defense of our Democracy;1st Amendment rights, especially free speech; equal rights; Earth justice and regenerative environmentalism; rural advocacy. Poetry shared in community has the power to move us to find common ground in our civic life by giving us common grounding of understanding. Might we stand together on common ethical grounds, and raise consciousness and awareness of the critical issues of our time?

The first N8tive Run experiment in free speech, Poetry for the People 2025, was a direct response to the re-election of Donald Trump, and the social, global upheaval that immediately ensued.The writers in our local, mostly rural communities had much to say; The Gathered Poems: from Poetry for the People 2025 captures and memorializes the vibes of peaceful resistance and unsinkable hope raised by the poems shared at our six gatherings and the re-gathering celebration in September.

Our follow up to Poetry for the People is this volume, Poetry for the Planet 2026: Voices from the Rogue Watershed, which feels like the next verse in a living community poem. In our rural and rural-adjacent communities, folks have strong feelings about our natural environment. We live close to nature here in Southern Oregon. We see the heart-stopping beauty, and we see the heart-breaking changes already delivered by the climate crisis. The poems here from 35 poets bear witness to the full scope of the beauty we live in and the calamity we see coming. This truly is poetry of the people; it's an easy step to poetry by the community. And with our understanding of the Earth as kin and a living part of every community, our poems are most certainly poetry for the Earth, Poetry for the Planet.

We have known our place and our responsibility as residents of this planet for a long time. So, what's up with humans? This question provides rich material for poets, and we are fortunate to have so many talented ones in Southern Oregon. Poetry for the Planet: Voices from theRogue Watershed is a collection of only some of these talented Southern Oregon artists, but we are pleased and inspired by who and what appears in this collection.

You will read poems of love and fear, bliss and uncertainty. These pages hold words of wise warning. Some poems will cause your breath to slow with visions of the sacred. There's a lot but now, more than ever, it is time to quiet ourselves and pay attention. That is the role of poetry. May you find inspiration, solace, and a way forward in what we call Poetry for the Planet: Voices from the Rogue Watershed.