Wilderness and Razor Wire: A Naturalist's Observations from Prison

Buddhists say that wisdom, at least a form of it, comes to those who gain access to a plane of imagining beyond hope and hopelessness. To be able to see clearly, witness openly and without prejudice, is to enter this imagining. To be able to see for seeing's sake. "Wilderness and Razor Wire" is an opus and an opera of seeing. Written during the author's twelve years of incaceration in the Arizona State Prison, the essays in this book focus the eye and the ear, sense of scent and touch, on the fragile bits of wildness which entered prison cell and corridor, walkway and window. The heat of the desert, the gaze of the owl, the aroma of spring's bounty of flowers in a barren place, inside a landscape seen as barren, but isn't, are beautiful, and defiant. This is a book to read when contemplating, to borrow from Bill McKibben, The End of Nature. The only end of nature, the book implies, is when we stop looking for and imagining it. This is a triumphant book.

Ken Lamberton, also referred to Mr. Lamberton to many thirty-somethings in Arizona, was caught for doing something many other instructors have done before and will do again. In this book, Lamberton teaches us lessons of nature, and yet also seems to share important lessons of life. This is the way he was in the classroom and he still has that gift today. This book is perhaps more meaningful to those of us who actually sat under him as students and still respect him in adulthood. Reading this book brought back many memories of basic science lessons where Mr. Lamberton actually took us out of the classroom and into real nature. He has us imagine and look at nature in a different way - a more appreciative way. There were tests for us back then, but none like the test his family went through - and survived.

Lamberton's book, a literary work indeed! I am fishing for a word to describe it and the emotion it conveyed to me, but I cannot find a good word. It is a book filled with beauty and brokenness, arrogance and repentance, reel love and real love. It really is a story of the human condition, trying to walk a ridge line and not falling into the abyss. Some of us fall into the abyss due to our own stupidity and get caught up in all kinds of trouble for violating some cultural rules scripted as law. (Had Ken been in Kenya among the Luo people, the age of 14 is just right for marrying and he could have had as many wives as he could afford.) Others fall into the abyss due to illness which can be equally devastating. Still others would rather take their life on the ridge line before falling.When someone takes a serous fall and survives it may take years for them to recover and all too often those who witness the fall are not there at the time of recovery. Karen, Ken's wife, was always there. An impressive part of this book is the story of a remarkable wife with her three children, committed to an intellegent man. She believed her love would return and again light up her life!

My sister who lives in Arizona heard about Ken's book in the newspaper and after reading it, she was certain that I would like it as well.She was right. I read the book in several sittings. One of the reasons that it meant so much to me was because about 20 years ago, I took a 28 day survival class for one of my college credits. The experience took place in the southern desert of Utah. I learned to love and appreciate the desert. Ken has the words and the artistry to describe many of the things that I felt and experienced from participating in that Wilderness. I also have a fascination for the prison system and how it changes a person's life. As Ken pointed out, prison certainly cannot be defined as rehabilitation. I like how he described the issue of doing time and how it weighed so heavily on his soul. He used his education and knowledge of the environment to lighten the burden of being in prison for 12 years. It was his escape and through his words he allowed us to escape with him.

Early reviews dwelled on the fact that Ken Lamberton has written this book from prison. Obviously his incarceration has provided him with an observation point that is foreign to most of us.But, in my view, the quality of his writing has yet to be given its due. Here is a lyrical voice that unfolds the wonders of the desert in a fresh and wondrous way. The rythmn of his writing reminds me of Cormac McCarthy--certainly good company to be in!