More Themes From "Turtle Island"

            Three additional poems I read in Snyder’s Turtle Island included “Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen,” “Anasazi,” and “Ethnobotany.” A main theme in these poems was, once again, the destruction of nature. However, a new theme I discovered was a desire to return to our roots and make life simpler.

            In “Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen,” Snyder tells of day-to-day life of log truck drivers. He talks about how this is their only way of living and that “there is no other life” (63). The truck drivers are satisfied with this simplistic lifestyle and haven’t ever experienced anything different. The theme found in this poem is how humans can be content with the only the smallest of things and how society today is too complicated and need to return to its roots.

            The first time I read “Anasazi,” I didn’t quite understand what Snyder was talking about and who the Anasazi were. Only after some Internet research did I find that the Anasazi were ancient Pueblo people. The meaning behind this poem is similar to “Why Log Truck Drivers Rise Earlier than Students of Zen,” in that the Anasazi lived life constant and simple. It is easy to see that Snyder admires their rustic way of life. This poem is also implying that humanity would be better off and more connected to nature if we rediscover our roots in an uncomplicated way of living.

            “Ethnobotany” contained themes more similar to the poems I read last time, “Night Herons” and “The Great Mother.” It is about mankind’s destruction of nature and disregard of the environment. The title of the poem, “Ethnobotany” refers to the study of relationships between people and plants. Snyder is upset with the way society treats the Earth, with a “chainsaw in September” and “main split trunks” (51). He says he gets “just so slightly sick” with the way we are treating our home (51).