UCLA professor Harryette Mullen weaves hope into environmental poetry publication
Eric Sican I Daily Bruin
Harryette Mullen is exploring the world of ecopoetics.
On Feb. 22, the Laboratory for Environmental Narrative Strategies hosted a poetry reading given by poet and UCLA professor Harryette Mullen. The event was a way to highlight Mullen’s most recent publication and first of the series “Open Leaves / poems from earth.” The reading was followed by a conversation and Q&A between Mullen and fellow UCLA professors and attendees, where there was a discussion about the importance of and ways in which ecopoetry adds to and complexes the literary genre. “Open Leaves” examines the earth as a foreground for abundant qualities humans rely on and puts a light on the delicate nature of the planet from which they take so much.
“I’m addressing nature as a human being with my own human concerns,” Mullen said. “I’m not necessarily addressing the concerns about the natural world.”
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(Photos left to right: Courtesy of Black Sunflowers Poetry Press, Courtesy of Judy Natal)