I've Heard the Vultures Singing: Field Notes on Poetry, Illness, and Nature

In this thoughtful and eloquent memoir, comprising previously published essays, poet Perillo (Luck Is Luck) observes the world around her from her four-foot-high wheelchair. Once an intrepid park ranger in the Cascade Mountains, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in her 30s and must now navigate the world without the use of her legs. Like the memoir, her life moves at a slow pace, full of bird watching, pondering and even occasional sex; she uses her heightened senses and a poet's prose to give a vivid, tragicomic portrayal of her current life and reflections on her “bipedal” past. Whether she's taking notes on seagulls, trees, salmon, poetry or herself, she writes astutely and gracefully. However, in her close observations, she rarely steps back to see the forest, and her nonlinear organization provides little emotional resonance. Nevertheless, Perillo's physical debilitation has only strengthened her poetic voice, which remains healthy, alive and breathing that fresh mountain air. (June)