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/
December 14th, 2023
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 12th, 2024
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 5th, 2024
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 28th, 2024
AUTUMN SUNRISE by Wisconsin poet Jan Wellik captures the gold of November.
November 21st, 2024
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 14th, 2024
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 7th, 2024
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.
October 31st, 2024
So many of us love wearing costumes for performances, and as children many of us became something other than what we were. HALLOWEEN by Catherine Young was published in Bramble in 2022.
October 24th, 2024
In an abecedarian poem, the first letter of each new line spells the alphabet. THE RIPENING ABECEDARIAN by Catherine Young is from her collection Geosmin published in 2022 by Water’s Edge Press.
October 17th, 2024
CIDER APPLES by Catherine Young is a poem of compounded sound describing October apples on an abandoned tree. It was published in Barstow & Grand in 2022.
October 10th, 2024
APPLE SEASON by Minnesota Poet Laureate, Joyce Sutphen, from her collection Carrying Water to the Field. The poet moves us from tree to kitchen to apple-rich foods with the work of her mother and grandmother.
October 3rd, 2024
In OCTOBER by Robert Frost, the poet pleads with October to go slow. OCTOBER is in the public domain.
September 25th, 2024
CONFLAGRATION INVOCATION is by Wisconsin poet Karen Ostrov. While watching over her toddler grandson in Oregon during the September 2020 wildfires and Covid 19 restrictions, the poet considers Rosh Hashanah 5781 and the binding of Isaac along with her role as a grandmother, sheltering her grandson for future generations.
December 28th, 2023
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
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.
November 30th, 2023
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 2nd, 2023
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.
October 26th, 2023
So many of us love wearing costumes for performances, and as children many of us became something
other than what we were. HALLOWEEN by Catherine Young was published in Bramble in 2022.
The Shots Came Quick-September 21, 2023
Deer hunting in our region is often a means of survival. Catherine Young reads The Shots Came Quick from her collection Geosmin.
The Last Apples-September 14, 2023
Catherine Young reads Joyce Sutphen’s poem The Last Apples from her collection Carrying Water From the Field
Purple Lines- September 7, 2023
Perhaps you remember mimeograph coloring sheets at school? How did they help celebrate season? Catherine Young reads Purple Lines from her collection Geosmin.
Baptism- August 31, 2023
Learning to read and decode the woods is like climbing into a canoe and letting the waters carry you. Catherine Young reads from her collection Gesomin.
Elderberries- August 24, 2023
August’s ripening elderberries bring to mind the return to school and letting go. Catherine Young reads Elderberries from her collection Geosmin
Letter To The Fifteen-Year Old Artist: On Winning- August 17, 2023
Wishes might be like soap bubbles that disappear or they might be like dandelion seeds that multiply. Catherine Young reads Letter to the Fifteen Year Old Artist:On Winning from her collection Geosmin
For Those Who Thought They Could Buy a Farm-August 10, 2023
How would a life long dairy farmer tell the story of a place? Catherine Young reads For Those Who Thought They Could Buy a Farm from her collection Geosmin