Turtle Island

The following are interpretations of a couple of Gary Snyder’s poems in Turtle Island, with special attention given to theme.


Coyote Valley Spring
    Snyder examines the subtle movements of nature: animals rustling in the wood, rocks crumbling, and mud hardening, using very basic diction, save a few foreign words presumably in a Native American language, to emphasize the natural simplicity of existence.  The processes of nature are described simply as they are, whereas the only mention of humans appears as “a lost people” who merely “float” (Snyder 15).

The Bath
    Snyder depicts his family bathing together in a sauna, listing every detail, sensation, and observation with nothing to hide, much as would be seen in the open natural world.  The family is united by the repeated statement: “this is our body” (Snyder 13-14), and its members are contented merely with the presence of one another, simply “Laughing on the Great Earth” (Snyder 14).  This simplicity through nature seems to be the ultimate realization for humans, according to Snyder.

Steak
    In this poem, Snyder describes steak with a theme of peculiarity, as if something is a little off.  Snyder mentions a “disney cow” and also, in the same stanza, describes a steak as “bloody sliced muscle” (Snyder 10).  In the next stanza, Snyder appears to criticize how the local Chamber of Commerce supports foreign livestock in his describing of the animal nutrition expert as wearing “Denver suits,” being “Japanese-American,” coming from “Kansas,” and having “Buddhist beads,” despite eating at a steakhouse (Snyder 10).  In fact, everything in this poem seems to be amiss in some aspect except for the “early morning prairie sky” and the cows that have “rhythm”; the peculiar segment of this stanza describes human actions: “the ripped-off land” (Snyder 10).

For the Children
    This poem metaphorically describes a population growth chart as a hill.  “The slopes,/ of statistics” show population “going up” as “we,” meaning society, “go down” (Snyder 86).  Snyder speaks optimistically of reaching a valley “in peace/ if we make it,” thereby alluding to his belief in population control.  He wraps the entire message in a hopeful bundle with his advice: “stay together/ learn the flowers/ go light” (Snyder 86).

Two Fawns That Didn’t See the Light This Spring
    Here, Snyder scolds society with a general theme of carelessness.  Both scenes depict seemingly-common accidents, the individuals therein taking seemingly-responsible actions by not letting the does go to waste, yet both individuals are still to blame for the accidental deaths of not just two, but four deer.


Snyder, Gary. Turtle Island. New York: New Directions, 1974. Print.