The woolly bear, common pawpaw and great blue heron — all these Cuyahoga Valley National Park organisms receive a poem in their honor in Light Enters the Grove: Exploring Cuyahoga Valley National Park through Poetry. Edited by Charles Malone, Carrie George and Jason Harris, the 2024 anthology paired 80 writers with 80 organisms in the park. Each poet created a poem that’s accompanied by an illustration by Each & Every. Organized into sections examining field, forest and water, each poem provides a literary hike through the CVNP. Poems recount memories, lament loss, express guilt and offer praise — reflecting myriad emotions. In “Running,” about the Eastern cottontail, Eros Livieratos writes: “In the rain, you cover / under branches and bushes. / In warmth, you love / openly. Reproduce, / nested in the ground.” In “Trillium,” Kimberlee Medicine Horn writes: “I smooth the woodland cover / with deep joy in knowing / the next time I venture / into the woods, they’ll be transcending / faith, hope and love / in dewy white.” Often, poets leave you with a sense of wonder. In “Wood Duck Aubade,” Diana Lueptow muses: “It’s a long drop. / Night toward day / where mother waits, that first love / and commander. How deeply does / an animal dream?”
