Laurel Anderson is a plant ecologist and poet. Her poetry has appeared in Ecotone, Terrain.org, River Heron Review, Radar Poetry, Split Rock Review, The Fourth River, and elsewhere. Her poem in Ecotone was awarded a Pushcart Prize. She has collaborated with musicians and a sculptor, and is currently at work on her first full length poetry manuscript. Laurel teaches science at Ohio Wesleyan University and lives with her family in central Ohio, USA.
To learn more about Laurel’s scientific and educational work at Ohio Wesleyan, and her leadership role in the Ecological Research as Education Network (EREN) and the Macrosystems Ecology For All (MEFA) Network, visit this link.
Poetry in Magazines and Online Sites
- “Ransom Note” in Ecotone
- “Prayer for the Phytoplankton” in The Nature of Our Times Gallery, Poets for Science
- “Ars Poetica with Mushrooms” and “Articulation” in Radar Poetry
- “Swing, June 2022” in Poems, for Now Issue and “Above the River” in River Heron Review
- “Small Town, Swing State” in Under A Warm Green Linden, Special Issue “America // Being America”
- “Navigation” and “Bog” in EcoTheo Review
- “Mantras of geese flying over the Himalayas” in River Mouth Review
- “The Heat Dome of 2021”, “Butterflies Are Vanishing Out West”, “Conflagration”, “Mangroves Move North” in Terrain.org (semi-finalist poem set in 12th Annual Poetry Contest)
- “What Is The Carbon Footprint Of This Poem?” in Split Rock Review
- “Wolf: Villain’s Monologue”, “Willow”, “#insectapocalypse: a thread” in The Fourth River
- “Ventilator Moon” in Pangyrus
- “Climate Change, Ohio” in Canary
Poetry in Anthologies
- “Light and Water and Light” in Open Earth III Eco Poems, Ohio Poetry Association Ecopoetry Anthology, Spring 2024.
- Eight of Anderson’s poems appear in the anthology Tempest: Poetry for Earthly Renewal (Green Fish Press, 2022). The Tempest project interweaves readings of environmental poetry with live music by the Columbus-based group The Early Interval. The goal of Tempest is to spark conversation about how views of the natural world have changed over the last 500 years of European colonization. Tempest is the brainchild of poet Terry Hermsen and musician Jim Bates.
Poetry in Sculpture
- Laurel Anderson contributed a line of poetry to the sculpture Where The Wind Carries You by artist Sarah Hahn. The outdoor, multi-piece sculpture installed on the Ohio Wesleyan University campus features human fingertips holding a dandelion flower with the seeds dispersed. Three seed sculptures are scattered nearby. A wall of curving metal strips displays Anderson’s line “A seed is how a plant says TRY.” A native pollinator garden surrounds the concrete pad supporting the fingertips and metal wall. The sculpture was built to explore themes of sustainability and human interactions with the environment.
Contact Information
- email: ljanders1014@gmail.com
- Blue Sky: @laurelscipoet.bsky.social
- Profile at Poets & Writers
- Landscape photos by Laurel Anderson
- Author photo by Mark Schmitter
Poetry by Laurel Anderson 