<p><em>Church of the Robin&rsquo;s Ha-Ha!</em>, the title poem of this collection, underscores John Burroughs&rsquo; essentially religious connection to nature. For the famed Catskill naturalist and writer, &ldquo;heaven on earth&rdquo; was no mere clich&eacute;, but a reality. His&nbsp;parents&rsquo; Calvinist preoccupation with the heaven to come, seemed&nbsp;to him tragically misguided and counter-productive. Still, as Anne&nbsp;Richey reminds us, Burroughs&rsquo; love for the earth was tempered by&nbsp;eyes determinedly wide open: yes, bird song enchants us, but somewhere&nbsp;a snake is devouring a baby bird. In other poems, all set in the&nbsp;Catskills, Richey keeps faith with Burroughs&rsquo; devotion to the near-at-hand &ndash; the sunlit and the dark: a doting mother photographs her&nbsp;two boys, a dog cowers in fear, a man appears to walk on water . . .</p>