Hike on

Hike On is a collection of poems about Maine¿s Mount Desert Isl-and and Acadia National Park where Bennett, over an ex¬tended period, observed its diverse moods, habitats and wildlife, and enjoyed its trails. Bennett¿s imagery of nature is focused through the lens of a biologist. Concise and lyrical poems result from Bennett's explorations, observations and meditations, coupled with his rare perspective. He transforms sight-ings and experiences into poems that capture the area¿s beauty and complexity, along with the struggles and accommodations among its wildlife. His natural cu¬riosity about the trails he hikes and his considerations of them over time result in unique poems as varied as the environments of Mount Desert Island and Acadia National Park.

After earning a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Rockefeller University, Bennett taught natural sciences at Harvard, biology at the University of Kentucky and Florida State University, and authored many scientific articles and textbooks. He served as president of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, professor and director of the Florida Museum of Natural History at the University of Florida, and director of the South Florida Museum. He is currently Courtesy Professor, University of Florida, and Research Fellow, South Florida Museum.His poems have been published in Poetalk, Poet, Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, The Pegasus Review, Red Owl, and CafT Review, among others. His collections include A Celebration of John and William Bartram; Nature, As One Sees It; and The River Widens.He and his wife Gudrun reside in Bradenton Florida and spend summers on and around Mount Desert Island in Maine.