Synopses & Reviews
The American West conjures images of wide-open spaces, harsh but beautiful landscapes embroidered with winding rivers and streams, long dusty roads to nowhere, sagging barbed wire fences that separate neighbors in the loosest sense. Here the only hustle-bustle is the wind gathering strength across the plains and the rush to get a day's work done before darkness swallows the countryside whole. In this region where time and space are writ large and solitude is a fact of life, how exactly do friendships among women develop, let alone thrive? What does that human connection provide; what does it mean? And what can these friendships teach us about these women, about ourselves?
In the grassroots tradition of LEANING INTO THE WIND, WOVEN ON THE WIND collects true stories, poems, and reflections from women of the interior West--also known as sagebrush country--writing about their kinship with other women. A communion of voices, WOVEN ON THE WIND tells of the beauties, ironies, rigors, heartbreak, and humor of western life and how it is enriched by friendships past and present.
A mother makes a harrowing bus trip during a legendary storm to bring her blind daughter home for Christmas with the help of unlikely friends. A trio of women steal a motorcycle from an estranged husband for a wild ride to redemption. A newlywed finds a true sense of family in the faces of strangers, her new Black Crow kin. Handmade gifts left in a roadside mailbox help shepherd a terribly pregnant young wife through a harsh Montana winter. Through marriage, childbirth, drought, doubt, careers, catastrophes, and change, these western women stand strong or lean gratefully on their friends. The voices in this volume--unsentimental, unflinching, and utterly unforgettable--take us into the souls, kitchens, barns, and hearts of nearly 150 women and show us how, in a life stripped down to what really matters, friendship can both ground us and help us to grow.
Review
"In hauntingly lyrical verse and forthright prose, the women . . .describe the significance of female relationships. Highly recommended." Booklist, ALA
"A grand celebration of western women." Bloomsbury Review
"A tribute to . . . perseverance and exceptional talent . . . the best collection about friendship and women in the West that I have read." The Tulsa World
Synopsis
The grassroots publishing sensation continues with WOVEN ON THE WIND, the second volume of women's writing from the heart of the American West compiled by the editors and ranchers Linda Hasselstrom, Nancy Curtis, and Gaydell Collier. They called on women in sixteen states and provinces to write about their friendships with other women in the West, a subject that they discovered has all too often been overlooked or underplayed. The result is WOVEN ON THE WIND, a unique and exhilarating collection, "a beautiful, intricate mosaic of women as mothers as well as friends" (Fencepost). In a region where time and space are large and solitude is a fact of life, these women tell of the beauties, ironies, rigors, heartbreak, and humor of life and how it is uniquely enriched by friendships past and present. The voices in this volume -- unsentimental, unflinching, and utterly unforgettable -- take readers into the fields, kitchens, barns, and souls of nearly 150 women and reveal a vital part of the real western American story. "Here is the essence of the West -- not the myth, but the truth."
About the Author
NANCY CURTIS owns and operates High Plains Press from her cattle ranch, publishing award-winning books of poetry and nonfiction.GAYDELL COLLIER is public library director who has coauthored several books on horsemanship.LINDA HASSELSTROM is the author of many highly acclaimed books of nonfictionand poetry and the coeditor of Leaning into the Wind and Woven on the Wind. She divides her time between Wyoming and South Dakota.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction: Voices Woven of Wind and Sage xv
I My Feet Set Down Roots:The Grounding 1
Jane Wells, My Heart Still Grins 5 June Frankland Baker, June and I, Singing 6 Kathleene West, Thinking of Rain in the Dry Season 6 Mary Hadley, No Room for Strangers 7 Sherry Schultz Shillenn, Dear Judy 10 Agnes L. Wich, Letter to a Friend" 11 Helen Applegarth McConnell, Goldie 13 Diane J. Raptosh, The Rapture 14 Shannon Dyer, Girls Night Out 14 Joyce Badgley Hunsaker, Something of the Earth 17 Stephanie Pershing Buehler, Sisters 19 Deb Carpenter, Love and Light 20 Eva Potts Wells Burton, Without a Doubt 20 Peggy Sanders, If . . . 20 Sheila Vosen-Shorten, Pearls from the Milk 21 Anne Slade, Tea with Daphne 23 Caroline Patterson, Preserving 24 Stephanie Painter, Trinity 26 May H. Baughman, Stella He 28 C. L. Prater, Aunt Noi 29 Jo-Ann Swanson, The Oddest Daughter 30 Cheryl Anderson Wright, Homemade Noodles 33 Charlotte M. Babcock, The Path 34 Norma Nelson Duppler, Secret Sin 35 Barbara M. Smith, Ladies Aid 37 Sandra Gail Teichmann, Light 38 Echo Roy, Prairie Ocean 41 Kathryn E. Kelley, Thats What Neighbors Do 42 Mary Peace Finley, Rosario 43 Ginny Jack Palumbo, Elvira 44 Linda M. Hasselstrom, Six Artists at a Country Retreat 45 Lorrie Mydland, Beverly 48 Jeannie Fox, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star 50 Saundra DeRemer, Summer Friends 52 Betty Downs, Learning How to Be Lonely 53 Faye Schrater, Dormant Seeds Sprouting 55 Janelle Masters, Of Potatoes and the Wind 57 Lee Ann Roripaugh, Pearls 59 Robin Littlefield, The Art of Living the Moment 61 Judith McConnell Steele, The Women 63 Lillian Vilborg, Sigga 64 Ellen Vayo, Lupes Song 66 Lucy L. Woodward, The Lady Who Knew How to Live 67 Eileen Thiel, Resolving Mrs. Wackerly 70 Ellen Waterston, Spun Sugar 72 Karen N. Miller, Capes 73 Dawn Senior, Wyoming Mother 75 Candy Hamilton, Women in the Rain 77 Dorothy Blackcrow Mack, Belonging to the Black Crows 79 Sue Leever, Pink Iron Nails 84 Carolyn Dufurrena, Ghost of April, 1978 86 Dianna Torson, Joan 88 Mary Harman, Some Things Never Change 88 Mary Lou Sanelli, Marriage 92 Sureva Towler, Up Fortification Creek 93 Barbara Rinehardt, Divas for a Day 95 Sharon R. Bryant, Dear Berry 96 Wanda Morgan, Friends for Life 98 B. J. Buckley, A Mans Work 100
II Leaves Speak for You: The Nourishing 103
Thelma Poirier, chokecherries 107 Diane Josephy Peavey, Coming Home 107 Colette Koko” Knutson Gjermundson, Friends Because 110 Charlotte M. Babcock, Letters to Lil 111 Dianne P. Rood Kiesz, Time for Friendship 115 Nancy Curtis, La-vin-i-a 115 Laurie Wagner Buyer, There Were No Women 119 Wanda Rosseland, Because Men Rule 122 Anne Fantaci Clement, The Reclamation 123 Karen Obrigewitch, Who Else? 127 Karen M. Berry, Grams Vegetables 127 Twyla Hansen, At the Prairie, the Day Before 129 Jennifer Green, Saying Good-bye to Nali 131 Page Lambert, Backbeat 134 Ara Anderson, Strung on Sinew 136 Jennifer Graf Groneberg, Handwork 136 Linda Boyden, Whatever Works 137 Bernie Koller, Lessons Learned by Hand 140 Ellen Vayo, Granmas Gloves 143 Heidi R. Cousins, Old Ladies Go Hunting 143 Lois Hart, Muskrat Ramble 146 Donna Parks, Spider Beside Her 147 Lee Ann Siebken, The Storm 147 Tina Welling, Passage 152 Sandie Nicolai and Norma J. Kulas, End of the World 153 Donna Gray, Huddled for Warmth 156 Ruby R. Wilson, Mother Love 156 B. J. Buckley, The Woman, Listening on the Party Line 158 Gin Scott, Shifting Gears 159 Claudette Ortiz, Co-Madres 162 Gael Seed, Barriers of Silence 163 Vee Hageman, Majesty 166 Kathy Hanks, Hog Wars 167 Donna Britton Harvey, Dont Step in the Cactus 169 Tena Cook Gould, The Night 170 Mary Lou Sanelli, Trying to Remember She Is Now a Man 170 Pamela J. Ochsner, Vi and Me 171 Phyllis M. Letellier, Whistling Girls and Knitting 173 Lois Jean Moore, Sybil Harris 174 Pearle Henriksen Schultz, Barbed Wire and Robert Frost 176 Gaydell Collier, Knowing with the Heart 177 Jody Strand, Maybe Slower Is Better 180 Mary Alice Gunderson, Leah, Bright and Dark 181 Cleo Cantlon, The Heart Knows 183 Patricia Archie, The Sunset Café 184 Julene Bair, At Forty-five 186 Rian Connors, Full Monty 190 Elizabeth Canfield, Living Without Loneliness 191 Lyn DeNaeyer, A Womans Place 192 Nedalyn D. Testolin, Sky, Grass, Rain, and Sage 193 Jane Elkington Wohl, Daily Acts of Courage 195
III New Flowers Unfolding: The Promise 197
Lee Ann Roripaugh, Oyurushi: Forgiveness 201 Susann McCarthy, The Company of Women 201 Lora K. Reiter, She Was Writing 203 Carol Boies, The Wedding Shower 204 Lucy Adkins, Linda 206 Kay Marie Porterfield, The Legacy 207 Lyn DeNaeyer, Resurrections 2209 A. Rose Hill, The Gift 210 Susan Minyard, word 211 Virginia Bennett, Tapestry of Knots 216 Maura T. Callahan, Pilgrimage 217 Emily Boies, What Makes Our Lives 219 Georgia Rice, Tea for Two 220 Patricia Frolander, Sisterhood 222 Darcy Acord, Dearrrrr Ann 223 Shelly Whitman Colony, Common Ground 226 Sister Hildegard Dubnick, OSB, Holy Ground 228 Mary Garrigan, The Concubine 231 Sue Hartman, Anneen 234 Thelma Poirier, wild roses 239 Sophie Dominik Echeverria, My Mothers Moccasins 239 Melinda Stiles, Her Soul Lives Here 243 Mary E. Schnell, Let the Circle Be Unbroken 245 Janet E. Graebner, Melissa 246 Louise Engelstad, Reclaiming Mothers World 248 Diane J. Raptosh, Matrimony 249 Gwen Petersen, The Shell Game 250 Bonnie Larson Staiger, Cycles 252 Jo-Ann Swanson, Alva in the Fields 253 Candi Red Cloud, How I Became My Own Woman 254 Katy Paynich, Defying Bare Branches 256 Laura Hawkins Grevel, Dear Quilting Sisters 258 Susan Vittitow, Jean 259 Donna Applegarth Mentink, Come Home 263 Maureen Tolman Flannery, Before She Left 263 Hilary Barton Billman, How the West Was Won 265 Maureen Cain, Car Pool Friendship 267 Louise Steneck, Circled in Shadows 269 Maureen Helms Blake, To Breathe on My Own 270 Jane Elkington Wohl, Below ZeroDecember 272 Vanessa Hastings, Cultivating the Iris, Dawn of Change 273 Doris Bircham, The Waiting 278 Cindy Bellinger, To Smooth a Mountain 279 A. Rose Hill, Barefooting Summer 280 Susan Austin and Laurie Kutchins, The Field Road 281 Jeanne Rogers, Community of Stones 289 Marjorie Saiser, My Old Aunts Play Canasta in a Snowstorm 290
Contributors 295 Acknowledgments 311 Credits 312