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/
March 27th, 2025
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
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 13th, 2025
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 6th, 2025
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 27th, 2025
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 20th, 2025
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 13th, 2025
AT FIRST SIGHT by Catherine Young is a short poem for the mid-winter celebration of love.
February 6th, 2025
TO SURVIVNG COLD WINTERS by Daniel Smith is from Poems from the Winter House published in 2023
by Water’s Edge Press.
January 30th, 2025
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 23rd, 2025
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 16th, 2025
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 9th, 2025
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 2nd, 2025
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 26th, 2024
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.
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 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.