Today's Read Contributor In an illuminating conversation dated July 22, 2025, poet Cory Addison sat down with The Poetry Foundation to discuss his latest collection, Horizons Unfolding. The project delves into the intersection of environmental change and human resilience, offering a lyrical exploration of how shifting landscapes—both ecological and emotional—leave indelible marks on the human spirit.
Addison explained that the title Horizons Unfolding serves as a metaphor for the evolving terrains brought about by climate shifts, and the persistence of personal hope. “I wanted to capture how our physical world is transforming, but within those changes, there’s also a spiritual and emotional renewal,” he said. This duality—loss and regeneration—forms the thematic backbone of the collection.
At the heart of his creative process, Addison traced the interplay between mourning and renewal. “Writing these poems, I felt like I was tracing the lines between loss and renewal—between what we leave behind and what we carry forward,” he shared. That tension, he added, became a guiding force behind the emotional cadence of his verse.
Critics have warmly received Horizons Unfolding, praising its lyrical precision and unflinching honesty. Reviewers commend Addison’s ability to blend vivid natural imagery with reflections on humanity’s relationship with the environment. His poems don’t merely chronicle ecological decline; they engage readers on a visceral level, transforming statistics about warming oceans and dying forests into something profoundly personal.
Addison’s work arrives amid a larger cultural moment in which poetry is increasingly viewed not just as art, but as activism. In recent years, climate-focused anthologies and programs have underscored poetry’s capacity to act as a catalyst for awareness and collective action. For instance, environmental poetry anthologies have garnered attention for acting as “barometers for the climate emergency,” giving voice to the global crisis through personal narratives.
For Addison, poetry is a space where hope and elegy coexist. His verses mourn what the planet is losing—the receding glaciers, species on the brink, the innocence of landscapes once taken for granted—but also affirm the resilience inherent in human communities. That balance reflects a broader trend in modern eco-poetics, where writers are generating urgency without succumbing to despair. As one critic observed, climate poetry in 2025 functions as a witness to a warming world while also offering imaginative paths toward action.
The poems in Horizons Unfolding weave, for example, images of eroding shorelines with intimate moments such as a child planting a seedling—quiet acts of defiance against environmental collapse. This juxtaposition underscores Addison’s belief that small gestures can carry emotional weight and symbolic power. He remarked that even in the face of seemingly insurmountable change, “choosing to plant, to remember, to love—those acts are where hope lives.”
Addison’s reflections also position Horizons Unfolding within a lineage of ecopoetics that emphasize healing and belonging. Some contemporary poets, especially indigenous voices, employ their craft to recalibrate climate narratives, using geopoetic forms to stress interconnectedness between people and place. Addison situates his work in this tradition, aiming to create a lyrical space in which the reader can feel both implicated and inspired.
In the full interview, Addison described his writing practice as deeply research-oriented. He draws on scientific reports, ecological data, and first-hand observation, but then distills these raw materials through sensory-rich language. The result is a poetry collection that feels rooted in the material realities of climate change, yet elevated by emotional detail.
The release of Horizons Unfolding coincides with increasing public awareness of environmental issues and growing cultural recognition of narrative as a tool for change. Recent anthology projects—such as climate-themed collections and spoken word initiatives—have positioned poets as mediators between scientific knowledge and human feeling. Addison’s work amplifies this role, offering readers art that mourns, informs, and ultimately calls them to empathy.
By framing environmental shifts as both external and internal journeys, Addison crafts what might be called “transformational ecopoetry.” His verses do more than lament what is lost—they also plant emotional seeds for what might grow anew. The combination of elegy and activism is understated but potent, reflecting a maturation in climate-engaged poetry: it is no longer about sounding alarms alone, but about reviving belief in human agency amid planetary upheaval.
Ultimately, the interview positions Horizons Unfolding as a significant contribution to contemporary eco-literature. Addison’s language strikes a rare balance: at once meditative, urgent, and unflinchingly present. Through his lyrical lens, readers are invited to feel the weight of environmental change—not as abstract doom, but as personal call to resilience.
Horizons Unfolding challenges us to reimagine our collective journey with the natural world. In doing so, it underscores the continuing relevance and necessity of poetry during a time when ecological imagination is no longer optional—it is essential.
