Poetry

Explore lyric expressions from our poetic contributors on topics of mountain life, nature's rhythms and the interior landscape of those who dwell in wild places. Verse that captures what prose cannot—the music and metaphor of living close to wilderness.

January 5, 2026
Words by Lauren BurgessFor all they give us – vitality, identity, the taste of freedom – the mountains also take.…
June 16, 2025
Sunshine gets all the fanfare, but I live for foggy mornings on the river, mist rising in clouds from its…
June 16, 2025
POEM BY LEATH TONINO Hey skunk, morning. You’re very tail up, nose down, eh? That’s your way of being here,…
June 16, 2025
BY SHELLI ROTTSCHAFER Transplanted in the rich ground of Idaho and with a winding path like an unbroken river behind…
December 4, 2024
POEM BY SHELLI ROTTSHAFER PHOTO BY DANIEL COMBS I just saw coyote laying down in the open field out front…
December 4, 2024
As the daughter of famous writer Jim Harrison, Jamie Harrison may have literary influence in her bones, but the 64-year-old…
June 18, 2024
Observing the evolution of the West. POEM BY BRAD ORSTED ILLUSTRATION BY MADELINE THUNDER What will we do when the…
June 18, 2024
An exploration of identity with Montana’s Poet Laureate. BY MAGGIE NEAL DOHERTY Breaching capacity of the Whitefish Community Library’s small…
June 18, 2024
The holy grail of backcountry travel in Greater Yellowstone gets an encore. BY LAUREN BURGESS Thrumming with the resonant call…
June 18, 2024
A Blackfeet storyteller excavates truth through narrative. WORDS BY CHANDRA BROWN PHOTOS BY DAVE GARDINER My head rests on a…