Camille Dungy :: Emily Franklin

Camille T. Dungy

Don’t
you tell me this is not the same as my story. All this
life born from one hungry animal, this whole,
new landscape, the course of the river changed

Camille T. Dungy, "Trophic Cascade" ​
Kenyon Review 

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​There are poets we return to again and again and specific poems that—even on first reading—are indelible on the soul. Somewhere on my body is the entirety of Camille T. Dungy's "Trophic Cascade." What begins as an ecological exploration of wolves bring reintroduced to Yellowstone quickly escalates into the wild territory of motherhood. The writer shows immense skill: in structure, with tight line breaks that demand the poem be read aloud (although often my voice breaks when I try), and language that is at once compelling, scientifically detailed, and emotionally devastating. Dungy's ability to cast wide and quickly narrow makes this the kind of poem we all strive for—the global as told through the specific. She is talking about the reintroduction of the wolves, but winds up talking about her own reintroduction - as a person in the world of parenting and the ferocity with which this this wild love changes us in the world. Of course this is only one of Camille Dungy's poems—there are many and they are all so rich and powerful. But this one I like to read and I like to teach as it covers so much ground in such a short time.

​                                                                                                         ~Emily Franklin