If his essay collection is any indication, Todd Nelson was probably the kind of teacher kids never forget. In his new book, “The Land Between the Rivers: Thoughts on Time and Place,” Nelson, a retired Maine educator, opines on everything from clotheslines and blueberries to bird feeders, bicycles and books. In 65 short essays, some of them originally newspaper columns, Nelson is, by turns, playful, reflective, exuberant. And he’s proudly nostalgic, as when he extols the virtues of old manual typewriters that, to him, signify the sounds of thinking. He writes with a sympathy for his younger self that is wholly endearing.

“The Land Between the Rivers: Thoughts on Time and Place” by Todd R. Nelson. Down East Books, 218 pages, hardcover. $24.95

Consider his essay on Van Morrison’s legendary song, “Moondance.” Every year in October, Nelson gets pulled back to the image of the teenage barn dance where he first encountered the iconic tune. “It jump-started 11th grade. The whole album became a sonic suite of my adventurous high school years,” he writes. “It invited a romantic mood before there was romance… It was for us before there was an us. I had yet to discover just whose eyes the stars were up above in.”

Then he tosses off a line, equating Van Morrison’s singing voice to a tenor sax that has an unmistakable air of truth.

Nelson is a big-picture guy who’s an equally keen observer of the minute. And he’s a seasoned professional when it comes to kid-watching. No wonder he sees value in idleness at a time when kids are hopelessly over-booked. “Boredom has gotten such a bad rap,” he says. “Kids are so conditioned to think that they must always be doing something, going somewhere, entertained, and active. But a little boredom can be a terrific vessel for a good drift, following a line of thoughts and just seeing what pictures appear.”

Nelson cites Thoreau and John McPhee among his key influences, and one can sense their presence on the author’s daily walks. His writing takes in the panoramic as well as the particular. Especially prominent, though, is the role of poetry throughout the collection.

In one piece, Nelson details the ruinous effects of poetry when he was growing up. “For years, my parents left this dangerous, unstable writing lying around the house in plain sight. It was, alas, the era before parent advisory labels.” he says. “Mom and Dad left poems where unsuspecting children could find them. For birthday cards, there were poetic quotes. For the solution to every torment, from mere doldrums of summer to heartbreak and adolescent angst, there were quotes from poems.”

Indeed, part of the beauty of this book is its frequent references to the poets and poetry that have become foundational for Nelson. So he kicks off the above essay, for instance, with a famous opening line from Dylan Thomas — “Now as I was young and easy…” — that will send many readers to the closest anthology that includes the poem, “Fern Hill.” Ditto for quotes from Donald Hall, E.E. Cummings, Robert Frost and countless others. In that sense, the collection becomes more expansive, a gift that keeps on giving.

For many readers, “The Land Between the Rivers” will be an introduction to Todd Nelson and his lovingly crafted observational prose. For others, Nelson may provide a springboard to poems from their own school days, a reunion, of sorts. Either way, Nelson is a wise and entertaining writer well worth keeping on one’s radar.

Joan Silverman writes op-eds, essays and book reviews. Her work has appeared in numerous publications including The Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Tribune and Dallas Morning News. She is the author of “Someday This Will Fit,” a collection of linked essays.