Contemporary Ecopoems Reimagine What the ‘Literary Landscape’ Is

The ancient belief that landscape is more than geography is embodied in the concept of a “genius loci,” “the spirit(s) of the place.” What happens to “nature poetry” if the connection between landscapes and deities decays? Especially if that decay is caused by humans, and nature becomes soiled by the atrocities of history? We do not have genius loci now, but rather genocide loci. How can poetry address that? Ecopoesía as a term appears to have been a major presence in the Spanish-speaking world approximately a decade or so earlier than its English equivalent became familiar. I present three hypotheses about how some contemporary ecopoetry is evolving, focusing on the work of three poets: A. R. Ammons, Jane Hirshfield, and Mayra Santos-Febres.