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/
Smoke Part ll- Thursday November 24, 2022
The essay “Smoke” by Catherine Young is reaction to and and experience of the wildfire ash that began to cover our Midwestern skies in the fall of 2020 against the background of having grown up in the in the smoke of the largest coal mining valley in the world.
Smoke-Part 1- November 17, 2022
The essay “Smoke” by Catherine Young is a reaction to and experience of the wildfire ash that began to cover our Midwestern skies in the fall of 2020 against the background of having frown up in the smoke of the largest coal mining valley in the world.
Farmer/Janus and Barn Elegiac- November 10, 2022
Catherine reads 2 poem from her poetry collection Geosmin that address the loss of farming in Wissconsin’s Driftless Region. The Janus in Farmer.Janus refers tot the two-faced Roman god of beginnings, doorways, passages and endings. The farmer looking forward and back while letting go. Barn Elegiac focuses on the empty barn and all it once held.
Gathering Acorns, Hoarding Words- November 3, 2022
Catherine reads from her poetry collection, Geosmin. In his piece “The Word Hoard” British writer-naturalist Robert MacFarlane noted the proposed removal of worth about the natural world in the children’s Oxford Dictionary-and this led to an outcry across the English-speaking world. Gathering Acorns, Hoarding Words asks if children do not know the words describing land, how will they know land?
And Now It’s October and The Vast Hour- October 27, 2022
Catherine reads 2 poems to celebrate October, Barbara Cooker’s And Now It’s October and Genevieve Taggart’s The Last Hour
The Crystalline Bed of St. Peter Part ll-October 20, 2022
Smitten with the layers of limestone and sandstone that line these Wisconsin hills, these loveliest of golden layer cakes, how does one person dwelling in the Driftless area protect land and waters?
The Crystalline Bed of St. Peter-October 13, 2022
Smitten with the layers of limestone and sandstone that line these Wisconsin hills. these loveliest of golden layer cakes, how does one person swelling the Driftless Area protect the land and waters?
Invocation: Call it Home October 6, 2022
Invocation: Call it Home is from Catherine’s poetry collection Geosmin and it was begun in 2007 in response to the first wave of devastating floods in our Driftless regions-as a way to speak what is beloved and why we stay. It was published as a poster with artwork by Stephanie Motz to celebrate and uplift the place where we dwell, and to ask all who view it to respond with art and poetry.
Stippled Passing- September 29, 2022
Catherine reads Stippled Passing from her poetry collection Geosmin. The poem is response to the Geald Manley Hopkins poem Pied Beauty and its “rose-molesall in stipple upon trout that swim”as well as the trouts in a farm’s creek and the change of season slipping into autumn.
The Shots Came Quick-September 22, 2022
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 15, 2022
Catherine reads Joyce Sutphen’s poem The Last Apples from her collection Carrying Water to the Field.
Purple Lines- September 8, 2022
Perhaps you remember mimeograph coloring sheets at school? How did they help celebrate season? Catherine Young reads Purple Lines from her collection Geosmin.
Baptism-September 1, 2022
Learning to read and decode words is like climbing into a canoe and letting the waters carry you. Catherine Young and guest Julie Agar read Baptism from the collection Geosmin
Elderberries- August 25, 2022
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 18, 2022
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 11, 2022
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.
Boy at the Fair August 4, 2022
Summer is fair time. Catherine Young reads a poem of a child’s experience at the State Fair
Waters, Silvered and Rime – July 28, 2022
Waters Silvered & Rime by Catherine Young are 2 poems of endless summer in the waters of a Great Lake, from her collection Geosmin.
The Queen of Summer Lawns Thursday July 21, 2022
Catherine Young reads a summer summer celebration poem Queen of the Summer Lawns by Joyce Sutphen from her collection Carrying Water to the Field.
Shoreline Instructions for Lake Superior and Superior July 14, 2022
Shoreline Instructions for Lake Superior & Superior by Catherine Young from her collection Geosmin are 2 poems from the south shore of a Great Lake.
Clouds Rise Up Like Fish and Carrying Water to the Field Thursday July 7, 2022
Catherine Young reads 2 July poems from the rural landscape: Clouds Rise Up Like Fish, a poem by Tom Hennen from “Darkness Sticks to Everything New and Collected Poems” and Carrying Water to the Field, a farm poem by Joyce Sutphen from her collection of the same name.
July 4 and Sweet Land of Liberty – June 30, 2022
Catherine Young reads from her collection Geosmin with two different views of the July 4 holiday.
July 4 – an ekphrastic poem based on a painting, depicting viewers of a small town parade.
Sweet Land of Liberty – a vibrant tableau of many cultures of America gathered at a state park holiday picnic.
Midsummer and Firefly Nights – June 23, 2022
MIDSUMMER & FIREFLY NIGHTS by Catherine Young from her poetry collection Geosmin are 2 poems celebrating the sweetness and long light of June.
The Oat Binder June 16, 2022
Catherine reads a farm poem, THE OAT BINDER by Minnesota poet Joyce Sutphen from her collection Carrying Water to the Field.
From a Country Overlooked June 9, 2022
Catherine Young reads the poem FROM A COUNTRY OVERLOOKED by Tom Hennen from Darkness Sticks to Everything: Collected and New Poems