In late Spring 2017, I  challenged myself to write about an unfamiliar topic and submitted three poems to  “The Life of a Fur Trader” Poetry Contest, sponsored by The Nebraska Writers Guild, the Dawes County Travel Board, and the Department of English and Humanities at Chadron State College.  Poems in this contest could address any aspect of “The Life of a Fur Trader” theme – historic, modern, professional, personal, their families, or their culture/society.  I’m proud that two of my poems placed in this contest!  “Bedtime Stories” (included below) was awarded 1st Place and “A Small Collection of Powder Flasks and Horns” took 2nd.

These winning poems from the Fur Trade Contest, plus another, “So Many Words” (this one featured in a March 2016 Recording of KZUM’s Women Out Loud), are featured in the Nebraska Writers Guild Anthology Voices From the Plains, a literary anthology containing the works of more than sixty contemporary authors from the Nebraska Writer’s Guild. The anthology features a wide range of genres in which Nebraska authors write, from mystery and thrillers, to short story, memoir, poetry and journalism.