Diane Ackerman
Diane Ackerman
Diane Ackermanis an American poet, essayist, and naturalist known for her wide-ranging curiosity and poetic explorations of the natural world...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPoet
Date of Birth7 October 1948
CountryUnited States of America
people touching age
In the absence of touching and being touched, people of all ages can sicken and grow touched starved. Touch seems to be as essential as sunlight.
loneliness differences people
So often loneliness comes from being out of touch with parts of oneself. We go searching for those parts in other people, but there's a difference between feeling separate from others and separate from oneself.
irony problem knows
Part of the irony of environmentalism is questing for solutions when you know you're part of the problem.
believe brain mirages
I believe consciousness is brazenly physical, a raucous mirage the brain creates to help us survive.
ifs
For if I do something, I never do it thoughtlessly.
blue algae green
No matter how politely one says it, we owe our existence to the farts of blue-green algae.
cells world body
There is a furnace in our cells, and when we breathe we pass the world through our bodies, brew it lightly, and turn it loose again, gently altered for having known us.
lying guilt fleeting
As fleeting emotions stalk it, a face can leak fear or the guilt of a forming lie.
meaningful reality tears
The senses don't just make sense of life in bold or subtle acts of clarity, they tear reality apart into vibrant morsels and reassemble them into a meaningful pattern.
creativity ideas safety
The idea of safety had shrunk into particles - one snug moment, then the next. Meanwhile, the brain piped fugues of worry and staged mind-theaters full of tragedies and triumphs, because unfortunately, the fear of death does wonders to focus the mind, inspire creativity, and heightens the senses. Trusting one's hunches only seems gamble if one has time for seem; otherwise the brain goes on autopilot and trades the elite craft of analysis for the best rapid insights that float up from its danger files and ancient bag of tricks.
smell mute
Smell is the mute sense, the one without words.
romance ingredients twins
hope and uncertainty [are] the twin ingredients necessary for romance to thrive. ... Nothing begins with so much excitement and hope, or fails as often, as love.
rowdy alligators wells
Not much is known about alligators. They don't train well. And they're unwieldy and rowdy to work with in laboratories.
animal animal-rights species
It's animal by animal that you save a species.