Of Leaf and Flower: Stories and Poems for Gardeners
The contents of this anthology might tempt one to ask: Sylvia Plath in a gardening book? Aren't gardening books supposed to be lightweight affairs? Not so, proclaim editors Charles Dean and Clyde Wachsberger,  who have assembled an impressive set of poems and short stories to address what they see as "the profound passions and wild obsessions that motivate gardeners." In Plath's work, "Fable of the Rhododendron Stealers," the poet steals a small bud from a public rose garden. Carrying it home and placing it in water, she hopes to keep it alive a little longer: "I considered the poetry I rescued / from blind air, from complete eclipse." The longing in this poem is part of the book's moody atmosphere--in a powerful story by John Updike, a self-absorbed and fearful narrator sees in leaf shadows "innumerable barbaric suggestions of scimitars, flanged spears, prongs, and menacing helmets." Although it's interspersed with soothing illustrations, obviously this book is noChicken Soup for the Gardener's Soul. Including poems by Billy Collins and Mark Doty, as well as stories by William Saroyan and Kate Chopin, the one glaring omission is Jamaica Kincaid. Her work would fit perfectly into this collection of writers who see gardens as complex metaphors, or endlessly evocative dreamscapes.--Emily White