Diane Ackerman at the 2007 Texas Book Festival. Diane Ackerman (born October 7, 1948) is an American poet, essayist, and naturalist. Read full biography of Diane Ackerman →
A poem records emotions and moods that lie beyond normal language, that can only be patched together and hinted at metaphorically.
I don't want to be a passenger in my own life.
As people flock to urban centers where ground space is limited, cities with green walls and roofs and skyscraper farms offer improved health and... →
For better or worse, zoos are how most people come to know big or exotic animals. Few will ever see wild penguins sledding downhill to sea on their... →
I'm certainly not opposed to digital technology, whose graces I daily enjoy and rely on in so many ways. But I worry about our virtual blinders.
Because we can't escape our ancient hunger to live close to nature, we encircle the house with lawns and gardens, install picture windows, adopt... →
Look in the mirror. The face that pins you with its double gaze reveals a chastening secret.
Though not a natural world by any means, more like a collection of living dioramas, a zoo exists in its own time zone, somewhere between the seasonal... →
I've always loved scuba diving and the cell-tickling feel of being underwater, though it poses unique frustrations. Alone, but with others, you... →
We're dabbling in eugenics all the time, breeding ideal crops to replace less aesthetic or nutritious or hardy varieties; leveling forests to... →
Nature is more like a seesaw than a crystal, a never-ending conga line of bold moves and corrections.
I like knowing that the further back one traces any lineage, the narrower the path grows, to the haunt of just a few shaggy ancestors, with luck on... →
We ogle plants and animals up close on television, the Internet and in the movies. We may not worship the animals we see, but we still regard them as... →
Diane Ackerman at the 2007 Texas Book Festival. Diane Ackerman (born October 7, 1948) is an American poet, essayist, and naturalist.