In every season, life on America’s high plains is at once harsh and beautiful, liberating and isolated, welcoming and unforgiving. The poems of Cloudshade take us through those seasons, swinging wide a glassless window to life in the West--to antelope flowing seamless over dirt roads, boom and bust ghost towns, deep, glacial lakes ringed with glowing aspen trees, ice fishing by the Northern Lights, and as in “High Plains Solstice,” live music on summer nights that carves hot petals through our bodies in its ritual of tides and light; licks us open from the inside until we are night-blooming jasmine seduced by the moon. Cloudshade is a book for everyone, from poetry lovers to those who don’t usually read poems. If you’ve ever waited through five or six months of winter for the first signs of spring, stood outside to feel the first, long-awaited summer rains, caught the wood-smoke and cottonwood scent of fall, or stood on a frozen lake, listening to winter rumbling and heaving through the ice, these poems will carry you back to what is elemental and haunting about life on the high plains, as in “On the Ice,” where We wait, silent, hearing with our feet the seething of ultramarine blood, the twitching of bones, rumbles of omens and restless spirits. The ice stretches and heaves, cracking like gunshot, and beneath that, glints and gleamings of sound, like whales calling across the darkness. In the poetic tradition of James Wright and B.H. Fairchild, these poems are rooted in the mercies of daily life, illuminating the intersections between our own internal landscapes and those that surround us. Howe offers a fleeting portrait of that intersection in the poem, “En Route to My Father’s Funeral” At a pale crossroads, in an open shop two floors up, a welder works into the night. His arc is lonesome in the cool air, gobbets of fire like unformed angels falling. Whether you live on the high plains or it lives in your memory, the poems of Cloudshade, like the first summer rain, bring the sounds, scents, and the vividness of life back to us, whole.

Cloudshade: Poems of the High Plains

Literature & Fiction

Howe, Lori

Poetry

Sastrugi Press LLC

Voices at Twilight: A Poet’s Guide to Wyoming Ghost Towns

Travel

United States

Sastrugi Press

Voices at Twilight: A Poet's Guide to Wyoming Ghost Towns

Wyoming's southern corridor bears the wind-scoured footprints of those tenacious, hopeful few who've left their mark on the wild landscape and spirit of this great and beautiful state. In this collection of poems, historical essays, and photographs, Voices at Twilight author Lori Howe illuminates the past and present of towns such as Old Sherman, once the highest railroad village in the world and now inhabited only by the grave of a child, Centennial, a former gold-rush town, now home to a colorful, artistic population of 100, Piedmont, whose well-preserved remains include the historic, stone beehive kilns of the Moses Byrne empire, and Medicine Bow, home of the historic Virginian Hotel, named for Owen Wister and his novel, The Virginian. The poems, essays, and photographs of Voices at Twilight offer the reader a visual tour of twelve of Wyoming's ghost towns, as well as travel directions, GPS coordinates, and tips for the intrepid readers who wish to experience these unique towns and townsites for themselves.

The Definitive Wyoming Ghost Town BookWyoming State Historical Society Book Award WinnerIn the award-winning Voices at Twilight, a collection of historical stories and photographs, Lori Howe illuminates past and present Wyoming ghost towns. Towns like Old Sherman, once the highest railroad village in the world, is now inhabited only by a child's grave. Centennial, a former gold-rush town, is now home to a colorful, artistic population of 100.Explore Piedmont's well-preserved remains including the historic stone beehive kilns of the Moses Byrne empire. Medicine Bow is home to the historic Virginian Hotel, named for Owen Wister and his novel, The Virginian."Many of the working inhabitants are commuters who prefer the solitude of this small, lovely community."The towns featured in Voices at Twilight offer the reader a visual tour of twelve of the most interesting Wyoming ghost towns. Contained within this full-color book are travel directions, GPS coordinates, and tips for intrepid readers who wish to experience these unique towns and town sites for themselves.Explore classic railroad ghost towns with this resource.Get your copy today

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Books by Howe, Lori