This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
When my friend George Lawrence decided to walk across the country with some environmental activists, I wanted to join him, but I couldn’t. So I wrote him poems, one a week for the nine months of the Walk. Most of the poems incorporate research I did into the landscapes he would be walking through each week. When done, we added dozens of photos he had taken along the way, letters we had written to each other, prose introductions to its sections, and other stuff to produce this coffee table-style book. But the poems are its core.
I have published poems in more than two dozen journals. Besides The Road to Continental Heart, I've also published a full-length collection of "nature" poems titled Dancing Mockingbird and a full-length collection of poems about intimate relationship titled Dancing with the Moon: Poems of the Heart. Several of my plays have been produced, including several written in verse. I've also written both short and long fiction.
An active Quaker, I am the author of the Quaker blog Through the Flaming Sword and I've published a number of Quaker essays and book chapters. A Quaker nonfiction book is under contract.
I worked for twenty years as a journalist and professional writer in the private sector. I lives in Pennington, New Jersey, with my wife and muse Christine Lewandoski.
Reviewed by Jamie Michele for Readers' Favorite
The Road to Continental Heart is the chronicle of a collaborative journey documented in original poetry by Steven Dale Davison and photography by George Lawrence, who together migrated across America with peaceful, like-minded eco-warriors. Davison captures North America's essence through the written word and poetic reflections from 'The Walk', which enriched his understanding of landscapes and their histories and humanity's connection to them. Rooted in the bioregional movement's principles, the compilation of poetry, photographs, and letters emphasizes understanding and living harmoniously with nature. Paired with Lawrence's photos, the poems convey Earth-care messages, urging readers to defend and befriend their land. Through intimate connections and shared love for the continent, Davison invites readers to embrace and protect their own places of residence responsibly.
As a child, my father loaded us kids up in a camper van, and from Vancouver, Washington, we zigzagged across the United States for two months. Steven Dale Davison's The Road to Continental Heart brought me back to those ingrained memories with his superb poetic odyssey. Lawrence's photographs are from the time when film was all we had before digital filtering, resulting in authentic depictions we can feel on the page. Davison beautifully expresses a moving, deep gratitude for the land, hymns of praise and lamentation, and his commitment to preservation. It is impossible not to be moved ourselves and take this testament to the past and its plea for deeper earth connectivity as a timeless reminder of our responsibility to honor and protect it. I dug up my old photo book, sat with my children, and combed through the poetry with renewed hope in the promise of the next generation learning from the ones who walked before them. Very highly recommended.
