This essay examines the spirituality of nature evidenced in the poetry of Emily Dickinson and Mary Oliver by comparing the nature poems of both poets in terms of how they envision kinship to nature and coexistence with nature. The poems` nature spirituality reflects a complex ecological consciousness based on the balancing of kinship with and alienation from nature. On the one hand, nature and human beings are depicted as living harmoniously, as fellows, brothers, and sisters. Thereby, both poets` works resonate deeply with the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. On the other hand, Dickinson and Oliver recognize a gap between the human and nonhuman. In their works, both poets personify nature to bridge the gap between the two entities. In this sense, both poets` nature spirituality is related to what Bryson calls “the place-spaciousness of nature,” an intermingling of “a sense of place (domesticity)” and “a sense of space(wildness)” espoused by Yi-Fu Tuan. Dickinson wrote poems about her “fellow” snakes in which she reveals familiarity with and alienation from them, echoing the Tuanian concepts of place and space. Although she often displays a greater familiarity with her “brother” snakes than does Dickinson, Oliver sometimes inadvertently discloses her uneasiness with them. Like Dickinson`s poems, Oliver`s snake poems reveal nature spirituality through the paradoxical experience of connection and separation. Both poets` awareness of nature`s otherness as well as its kinship creates a dynamic tension in their poems, which challenges the reader to forge a reconciliation in the act of reading.