Who Speaks on Behalf of the Green in a Leaf?

Poetry can be used to examine and process difficult queries; it can also be a constructive tool for change. Literary scholar Peter Degerman immerses himself in the intersection between the aesthetic function poetry and its practical uses within various political and social contexts. He wants to clarify the relationship between poetry and ecological issues, but also connect tangible societal challenges to the human-nature relationship. 

The setting for this exploration is the nature of northern Sweden and its vast forests— an economic and vital resource for the population that also contributes to the image of the area as a place separate from more southern climes. In a historical perspective, two opposing images have dominated the views of northern Sweden as a location. These views are its exotic wilderness and the exploitation of this wilderness.

From an eco-critical and postcolonial perspective, these images of the forest take on a prominent significance. The forest is not just an environment in relation to those who live there; it also exists in its own right. But, "[w]ho can speak on behalf of the green in a leaf?"

One of the poets on whom Degerman focuses on is Aase Berg. In her poetry, a forest of northern Sweden becomes a place where the past is linked to with the future. There are glimpses of the original landscape and the consequences of climate change are made visible. In this, we, as humans, have a responsibility towards nature.

Jonas Gren is also interested in the human-nature relationship. With the collection of poems Antropocen (Anthropocene), he states his intention to write for a new era with less human impact on the environment and the climate. Degerman notes that the relationship between parasite and host as a literary trope is clear regarding both Gren and Berg. It is exemplified by the human-nature relationship and evokes existential questions within Gren concerning how bigger issues are linked to smaller ones, and also the place of one's own self.

A third poet under the watchful eye of Degerman is Gunnar D Hansson, who with the book Tapeshavet (the Tapes sea, a postglacial shoreline) provides space to post-anthropocene musings beyond the human condition, where the location is given great importance. Whereas Hansson is drilling into the soil of his southern Swedish homeland, Degerman believes that in postcolonial eco-poetics, a place associated with the wild, the “other”, is required. A place far away instead of close. A "Norrland” (the north country).

So, who speaks on behalf of the green in a leaf? The poetic language itself, is Degerman's answer. Through its ability to speak for that which is beyond humanity, for the green in the leaf, a possibility for change is created.