Sky Tree Sky is a long poem based partly on the journals of the Scottish field botanist David Douglas (1799 -1834).
David Douglas was a naturalist, botanist, explorer, surveyor, rifleman, linguist, and one of the first mountaineers. I was first attracted to this material by his voice, which reminded me of Henry David Thoreau. Douglas speaks of a vanished world: travels with the Hudson’s Bay Company, and with the French trappers known as the Voyageurs, and with his many Native American and Hawai’ian guides.
Douglas’ descriptions of the Pacific Northwest give a glimpse of a great coastal and woodland culture. Douglas befriends many members of the ancient tribes of the forests and American steppes. He describes border wars and tribal strife, as well as vast trade routes, forest farming, family life, and humor. He also records the first plagues to ravage the coastal people.
Sky Tree Sky is a poem, a travel book, and an ecological adventure story. David Douglas meets the latest Robinson Crusoe on Juan Fernandez Island, explores the Galapagos Islands fifteen years before Charles Darwin, and becomes one of the first mountaineers to climb Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and Mount St Helens. He died botanizing in 1834 on the Big Island of Hawai’i.
My new book Sky Tree Sky has been published (January 2024) by Alien Buddha Press.
Available on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk
Sky Tree Sky: Amazon.co.uk: D’Arpino, Tony, Buddha, Alien: 9798871868201: Books
Two book launches for Sky Tree Sky took place in Bristol, England at the beautiful Heron Books in Clifton Village and at the bohemian nightclub in the cellars of the Berkeley Square Hotel.
Other Recent News
My poem Celyn (Welsh for Holly) is published in Volume Poetry, Volume 4 Issue 1
(March 2024). Celyn – Tony D’Arpino – Volume Poetry
Bristol Lyra Poetry Festival 2024.
My poem Pero’s Bridge was featured in the 2024 Lyra Festival Bonds anthology and exhibition at the Bristol Beacon, curated by Ralph Hoyte and Martin Rieser. It is also part of an audio poetry walk with sound pools centered on Pero’s Bridge in Bristol’s Floating Harbour. To see the poetry film of Pero’s Bridge click here PEROS BRIDGE (youtube.com)
I won the 2022-23 Winter Anthology contest for my poem Trees of Iceland.
The Winter Anthology — Trees of Iceland
Two poems were published in the 2023 Bristol Lyra Festival Walking Words anthology. The Ancient Forest and The Urban Forest can be heard in an audio sound pool centered at Royal Fort Gardens.
I was pushed offshore in the 2023 Hotwells Festival for a wild poetry reading on the Grain Barge.
