Drunk in the Woods

“Sometimes,” Tony Whedon tells us in his brilliant new book, Drunk in the Woods, “I think there's such a thing as an alcoholic landscape—a drunk landscape, as opposed to the sober one I live in now, the same trees, years later, the same brook, but with more clarity.” With such clarity Whedon tells of his close-to-the-bone experiences of gardening, cutting wood, and exploring the back country of northern Vermont. There's a lot of nature observation in this hybrid of nature writing and memoir, but Drunk in the Woods doesn't bog down in naturalistic fussiness. Rather his remarks on loggers and drunks, woodpeckers and animal tracks are woven into a lively, sometimes harrowing personal narrative, providing a fresh perspective on how “living wild” impinges on the mind of the suffering-and-then recovering alcoholic.

Tony Whedon of East Berkshire, Vermont

Tony Whedon iis the author of three books of poems and a prize-winning essay collection. He is a working trombone player and the leader of the poetry/jazz ensemble PoJazz. Along with Neil Shepard, he founded Green Mountains Review. He lives with his wife Suzanne in Montgomery, Vermont.