Working the Dirt
Edited by Jennifer Horne
(New South Books/UGA Press, 2003)
Finalist for the SIBA Book Award

Includes Hiestand’s poem “Planting in Tuscaloosa.“

”A loamy volume of verse thematically inspired, Working the Dirt celebrates our connections to the land. The selected poems share themes of gardening, farming, and the rich Southern soil.” Contributors include Fred Chappell, A.R. Ammons, Wendell Berry, Emily Hiestand, Ellen Bryant Voigt, C. D. Wright, Donald Justice, James Dickey, Nikki Giovanni, Coleman Barks, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Pattiann Rogers, among others.

“Virgil sanctified farming by lending it the prestige of poetry. Jennifer Horne's thoughtfully edited Working the Dirt upgrades the Roman poet by reversing the gesture: here, farming lends poetry its honor. In the process, many of the best poets [in] America…reassert their prophetic role as bards.” —David Rigsbee