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Landward

with Catherine Young

Thursdays around 8:25AM

Catherine Young is a performing artist and writer whose life is devoted to protecting water. Trained in fluvial geomorphology, Catherine worked as a national park ranger, naturalist, educator, farmer, and mother before completing her MFA in creative writing in British Columbia. Her prose and poetry has been nominated for Pushcart Prize and Best American Essays and is published internationally and nationally, including in the anthologies The Driftless Reader and Contours.  She is the author of the memoir of place, Black Diamonds: A Childhood Colored by Coal (Torrey House Press)and the ecopoetry collection Geosmin  (Water’s Edge Press, Midwest Book Awards Silver Medal).

Rooted in farm life, Catherine lives with her family in Wisconsin’s Driftless bioregion. Her podcasts and writings can be found at: www.catherineyoungwriter.com/

Would you like to have your work featured on this program? Landward is seeking poem submissions from Wisconsin writers to be considered for broadcast. Submissions must be received by October 31st, 2024.

This project is in partnership with WDRT and The Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. More information and submission guidelines can be found at wfop.org/landward.  

5 + 10 =

April 18th, 2024

Landward
Landward
April 18th, 2024
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DEAR SKY, DEAR BLUE PLANET is a community poem created from responses to Kimberly Blaeser’s prompt at the American Geophysical Union 2022 conference as part of Poets for Science. A video of the poem and its collaborators can be viewed on YouTube.

April 11th, 2024

Landward
Landward
April 11th, 2024
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In almost childlike verse, the poem IN THE TIME OF CLIMATE CHANGE describes the devastation of floods in southwest Wisconsin in 2018, and it was published in Catherine Young’s ecopoetry collection Geosmin by Water’s Edge’s in 2022. DANDELIONS, also by Catherine Young, is a poem of resilience and it was anthologized in Tiny Seed Journal in 2023.

April 4th, 2024

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Landward
April 4th, 2024
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THE BLUE IN THE DISTANCE by Minnesota Poet Laureate, Joyce Sutphen, is from her collection Carrying Water to the Field. The poet paints April’s color shift as it moves on the land.

March 28th, 2024

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Landward
March 28th, 2024
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STRAIGHT OUT OF VIEW by Minnesota Poet Laureate, Joyce Sutphen, is from her collection Carrying Water to the Field. The poet moves us from page — to rural land — and then back again.

March 21st, 2024

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Landward
March 21st, 2024
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In this essay, And Then I Went Back to the Land, Catherine Young takes us on a journey from the Great Depression through food co-ops considering where our food comes from and why.

March 14th, 2024

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Landward
March 14th, 2024
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Rich in description of desert landscape, Mussentuchit Badlandsis from the memoir When I Was Red Clay: A Journey of Identity, Healing and Wonderby Jonathan T Bailey, published in 2022 by Torrey House Press.

March 7th, 2024

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Landward
March 7th, 2024
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In this memoir piece In That River I Saw Him Again, Catherine Young tells a story of trains, photography and what the heart remembers.

February 29th, 2024

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Landward
February 29th, 2024
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DENDROUS AND MATTER by Catherine Young are two poems that look at the poetry in science. They are from her collection Geosmin published in 2022 by Water’s Edge Press.

February 22nd, 2024

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Landward
February 22nd, 2024
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Gas Stove is from the memoir Black Diamonds: a Childhood Colored by Coal by Catherine Young, published in 2023 by Torrey House Press. The memoir looks back on childhood in a Pennsylvania coal mining Valley, and Gas Stove tells of the shift from coal to gas in the early 1960s.

February 15th, 2024

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Landward
February 15th, 2024
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AT FIRST SIGHT by Catherine Young is a short poem for the mid-winter celebration of love.

February 8th, 2024

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Landward
February 8th, 2024
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TO SURVIVNG COLD WINTERS by Daniel Smith is from Poems from the Winter House published in 2023

by Water’s Edge Press.

February 1st, 2024

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Landward
February 1st, 2024
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Diamonds is from the memoir of place Black Diamonds: A Childhood Colored by Coal by Catherine Young, published in 2023 by Torrey House Press. The memoir looks back on childhood in a Pennsylvania coal mining Valley, and Diamonds looks at coal in 1960s.

January 25th, 2024

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Landward
January 25th, 2024
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In SHELL DREAMS, FLAT AS KANSAS & ABOVE THE CONDOS by Wisconsin poet Ed Block portrays winters on Sanibel Island. From his collection Shell Dreams published in 2021 by Water’s Edge Press.

January 18th, 2024

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Landward
January 18th, 2024
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Two poems from Wisconsin writers: IN THE COLD by Daniel Smith from Poems from the Winter House published in 2023 by Water’s Edge Press and WINTER RIVER by Jan Wellik read by permission.

January 11th, 2024

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Landward
January 11th, 2024
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THE FARM by Minnesota Poet Laureate, Joyce Sutphen, from her collection Carrying Water to the Field. Reminiscent of a psalm, the farm father is a world maker and provider parting the snowy sea.

January 4th, 2024

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Landward
January 4th, 2024
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This story about marking time is excerpted from Tracing Time: Seasons of Rock Art on the Colorado Plateau by Craig Childs, published in 2022 by Torrey House Press.

December 28th, 2023

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Landward
December 28th, 2023
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WHAT REMAINS by Catherine Young holds the silvery memories of late December. The poem is from her ecopoetry collection Geosmin published in 2022 by Water’s Edge Press.

December 21st, 2023

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Landward
December 21st, 2023
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THE SHORTEST DAYS by Minnesota Poet Laureate, Joyce Sutphen, from her collection Carrying Water to
the Field. This poem for the time of the winter solstice anticipates the day’s end and night descending,
while the people rise to meet it.

December 14th, 2023

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Landward
December 14th, 2023
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The Time of Anise is from the memoir of place Black Diamonds: A Childhood Colored by Coal by
Catherine Young published in 2023 by Torrey House Press. The memoir looks back on childhood in a
Pennsylvania coal mining Valley, and the Time of Anise remembers holiday baking in the early 1960s.

December 7th, 2023

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Landward
December 7th, 2023
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The Time of Anise is from the memoir of place Black Diamonds: A Childhood Colored by Coal by
Catherine Young published in 2023 by Torrey House Press. The memoir looks back on childhood in a
Pennsylvania coal mining Valley, and the Time of Anise remembers holiday baking in the early 1960s.

November 30th, 2023

Landward
Landward
November 30th, 2023
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AUTUMN SUNRISE by Wisconsin poet Jan Wellik captures the gold of November.
OLD FEY AUTUMN SIGHS by Wisconsin poet Donna Carnes is a villanelle that imagines a king of autumn
letting go of his reign to the oncoming queen of winter.

November 23rd, 2023

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Landward
November 23rd, 2023
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REPLENISH by Catherine Young reimagines our deep connection to water in our rural landscapes 50
years into the future. REPLENISH is from the Wormfarm Institute 2023 zine, Imagine.

November 16th, 2023

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Landward
November 16th, 2023
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As the colors drain from the Wisconsin rural landscape, the last garden harvest brings the colors indoors
until the house on the wintering land becomes its own small sun. AS WE WAIT FOR WINTER by Catherine
Young is from her collection Geosmin published in 2022 by Water’s Edge Press.

November 9th, 2023

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Landward
November 9th, 2023
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THE LOST PLEIAD by Wisconsin poet Donna Carnes is based on the universal myths about the Seven Sisters (Pleiades) brilliant star cluster seen in November, used to guide sailors home.

November 2nd, 2023

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Landward
November 2nd, 2023
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In an abecedarian poem, the first letter of each new line spells of the alphabet. THE RIPENING
ABECEDARIAN by Catherine Young is from her collection Geosmin published in 2022 by Water’s Edge
Press.