Nature poems

So, Tuesday’s class didn’t exactly help me understand what was going on in the poem “State of the Planet”, by Robert Hass. I mean, we went over some of the nature and wildlife mentioned in the poem, but I feel like there was still a lot I didn’t understand. For instance, “If she lived in Michigan or the Ukraine, She’d find, washed up on the beach in a storm like this Limestone fossils of Devonian Coral. She could study the faint white markings: she might have to lick the stone to see them if the wind was drying the pale surface even as she held it, to bring back the picture of what life looked like forty million years ago: a honeycomb with mouths” Now, could someone please explain what he is talking about when he talks about beaches being in Michigan and the Ukraine? I understand there are lakes in Michigan and the Ukraine, but how would Devonian coral be in a lake?? So while it was very cool and entertaining to go over some of the wildlife and nature that we read about in the poem, I still find it hard to believe that everything that is in this poem is necessary. Or is it okay to include as much material as you would like as long as it’s a nature poem and is well written?  Either way, I find it somewhat annoying at tomes. Does that mean I will never learn to appreciate poetry? I don’t know. I do, however, love everything about nature and I don’t feel like I need to read about it to appreciate it more. I was born with a love for nature and never has reading about done anything else for me other than make me wish I was outside experiencing nature, instead of reading about it haha