Swaying on the Elephant’s Shoulders

Swaying on the Elephant’s Shoulders by Diana Woodcock is the winner of the first Vernice Quebodeaux Pathways Poetry Prize by Little Red Tree Publishing. It is a wonderful collection of poems expressing a three-fold concern for human rights, refugees and ecology. Each poem captures one of three states of readiness as the narrator is either poised to fly, held back, or drawn to the light. Each poem seeks to lend balance to the universe as it portrays the anguish or the joy of humanity and the pervasive sense of wonder available to us all. These are poems inspired by refugees, people living under communist rule, and fragile cultures and ecosystems on the brink of extinction. This collection, devoted to the threshold where silence and language meet, is an effort to promote worldwide justice and care-taking of the earth. It is a celebration of life, a protest against violence and greed, and an exploration of humanity’s relationship with and interdependence upon nature and fellow human beings.