The forests of Vancouver Island are famous for a reason. Along with its breathtaking beauty and serene nature, you will find a sort of stillness. As you step into this terrain, the green fields and wildlife demand that you slow down, notice the tilt of a jackpine trunk, and listen to the rhythmic breathing of the Pacific tides. For Dr. James C. Glassford, a retired internal medicine specialist and anesthesiologist, these woods provided the same. And if we were to break down his love for nature and this place in some words, it could be described as a canvas and a powerful form of medicine…
After spending decades navigating the high-stakes, fast-paced worlds of hospitals in Calgary and Vancouver, who would have thought that Dr. Glassford would find his way back to a childhood love that had long been waiting in the wings… in the natural world and the evocative power of poetry?
Through his beautifully crafted companion volumes, One Poet’s Journey: A Picture Book of Poems (Volumes 1 and 2) and Love, Life and Mother Nature, Glassford offers readers an accessible, deeply human invitation to step away from the noise of modern life and find healing in the dirt, the trees, and the tides.
Long before he was managing complex patient cases, Glassford grew up in a tiny, isolated hydroelectric “colony” of just 35 families in Northern Ontario, on the rugged banks of the Abitibi River. It was a small, intimate community, entirely surrounded by the vast Canadian wilderness. He attended a one-room schoolhouse where each grade occupied a single row of desks. It was here, under the gentle guidance of his father, that Glassford first learned to look at a forest as a living, breathing community. Though his path eventually led him south to study biochemistry and medicine at Western University, that early connection to the wild never truly left him.
After a demanding and distinguished medical career, retirement finally provided him with the perfect opportunity to pursue his long-awaited passion. So, alongside his wife, who is herself a trailblazing pioneer as Canada’s first board-certified female vascular surgeon, Glassford traded the sterile walls of the clinic for the rich, living soil of the Master Gardener program. Today, the couple spends hours volunteering at local garden centers and walking the forested trails near their home, directly channeling their shared reverence for life into their creative collaborations.
What makes One Poet’s Journey and Love, Life and Mother Nature so uniquely captivating from other similar works is that they are family affairs. As you read the poetry, you can experience and feel Glassford’s vivid, unpretentious verse, which is intimately paired with breathtaking photography taken by his wife during their treks through the Rocky Mountains and coastal forests. This dual interplay between word and image creates an immersive multi-sensory experience that will keep you glued to its pages. For example, when Glassford writes about the knotted, gnarled branches of a resilient tree starkly thrusting at the skies in “The Jackpine,” the accompanying photograph allows you to feel the rough texture of the bark and the bite of the mountain air.
While nature is the undeniable heartbeat of these collections, Glassford doesn’t shy away from the beautifully messy realities of the human experience. He intentionally places sweeping poems about soaring eagles side by side with humorous “day-in-the-life” slices of ordinary humanity, such as a frantic narrator trying to outrun a parking warden.
“Life is multifaceted,” Glassford notes, reflecting on his dual perspective as both a poet and a former physician. “In one’s darkest moments, it helps to look at life as a whole and not just one moment in time or one rough spot.”
Because of this philosophy, the books mirror the true rhythm of living and connect beautifully with the coincidences of the readers from different aspects of their lives. There are poems of youth and romance written during his university years, pieces exploring the tender innocence of childhood, and quieter, introspective verses born of the profound insights gained from a medical career that witnessed the full spectrum of human vulnerability.
For all their peaceful, restorative qualities, these poems carry a sharp, urgent undercurrent. And Glassford is acutely aware that the delicate ecosystems that heal our spirits are themselves in grave danger. In his poignant poem “Intertidal Pools,” he seamlessly shifts from celebrating the “cornucopia of characters dancing in a salty sea of calm” to a stark, necessary reminder of human impact:
Plastic particles and pollution are taking a terrible toll
The ocean is a wild and wondrous place, not our toilet bowl
It is this balance between celebrating beauty and demanding environmental responsibility that gives Glassford’s work a reason to read and think of our responsibility towards nature and the environment. It is about time that we rethink our values and purpose as human beings and understand that nature is the living organism for us to survive and thrive. These books provide a platform to start a deliberate focus on conservation and encourage readers to fall back in love with wildlife, whether they are looking at the world through the majestic eyes of a wolf pack or watching an eagle wheel on a thermal. They will feel a fierce, instinctive desire to protect it.
Cutting to the chase, Dr. Glassford’s books read like a gentle prescription for a world weary from its own complexity. They are a call to step outside, to look past our immediate inner troubles, and to let the natural world back into our souls.
Whether you are a lifelong outdoor enthusiast, a lover of quiet imagery, or someone who hasn’t picked up a poetry book since high school, One Poet’s Journey and Love, Life and Mother Nature offer a welcoming, healing place to rest.
Discover the poetry and photography of James C. Glassford on Amazon:
● One Poet’s Journey: A Picture Book of Poems (Volume 1)
● One Poet’s Journey: A Picture Book of Poems (Volume 2)
● Love, Life and Mother Nature: Picture Book of Poems
About the Author
James C. Glassford is a retired physician who currently resides on Vancouver Island (British Columbia, Canada). He grew up in a small, isolated hamlet in the far north and spent many hours exploring the great wilderness around him throughout his life. He has developed a deep understanding of and a love for the natural world and for wildlife. For him, nature is also a place to enjoy solitude, as well as to reflect and meditate on its wonders and on life itself. He has tried to convey those feelings in his poetry and in the images he created for them in his books.
If you enjoy nature poetry, wildlife poems, environmental themes, illustrated poetry collections, reflective verse, conservation and ecology, inspirational poetry, outdoor enthusiasts, family-friendly poetry, poems about everyday life, and relationships, these books should make it to your shelves.
