"In his debut poetry collection, Water, Rocks and Trees, James Scott Smith explores our relationship to the natural world with a shamanistic sensibility. Smith's yearning for connection, for a sense of belonging to the earth, the universe, permeates every poem. Whether describing the 'death drop love dance / of the hummingbird' or the coyote with a 'fresh kill of rabbit hanging / soft and surrendered in her mouth, ' Smith revels in the intelligence and vibrancy of the more than human world. Here, man doesn't conquer nature-he converses with it. It is a conversation I didn't want to end."
-Mary Reynolds Thompson, author of Reclaiming the Wild Soul