Nature Calls Outside My Window: A Collection of Poems and Stories

A keen eye for the sights and sounds of the natural world characterizes Suzanne Cottrell's Nature Calls Outside My Window. This richly visual collection of poems and stories captures the uncompromising beauty and energy of creatures of all size and genus in, as one story names it, "Breathless Moments," vibrant slices of nature alive to all the senses. Throughout the collection, we hear the literal calls of nature from birds to bison, but we also feel the invitation to step into the natural environment and find our place within it. Cottrell's immersion in nature for "renewal like the /revival of resurrection fern fronds" ("Solitary Walk,") promises in the closing poem, "Outside My Window," that there are pleasant views there to enliven the contemplative spirit.

-Susan K. Hagen, author of Shall We Dance? Poems of Desire and Meditation and Allegorical Remembrance



Suzanne Cottrell celebrates the natural world, from the ordinary to the rare and breathtaking. Her book is populated by lizards, groundhogs, buffalo, bald eagles, cats, dogs, and all other members of nature's kingdom. Nature Calls Outside My Window is a delightful read.

-Ray Zimmerman, author of Healing and Conflict



Whether an elegy for the bobwhite, an homage to a skink, or a story about finding a snake in the bathtub, Suzanne Cottrell's prose and poetry will make you feel glad to be alive on this sweet, green Earth.

-Sy Montgomery, national bestselling author of How To Be A Good Creature and 32 other books