What Wildness Is This

Susan Wittig Albert is the founder and past president of the Story Circle Network. She lives near Austin, Texas. Susan Hanson teaches in the English Department at Texas State University-San Marcos. Jan Epton Seale is a poet and fiction writer in McAllen, Texas. Paula Stallings Yost, founder of LifeSketches/Heirloom Memoirs, is a personal historian and publisher in Yantis, Texas, near Dallas.

• Foreword by Kathleen Dean MooreEditor's Note by Susan Wittig AlbertA Land Full of Stories Laura Girardeau, Easter, Picacho PeakCindy Bellinger, This Land on My FaceGloria Vando, HE 2-104: A True Planetary Nebula in the MakingLinda Hogan, DwellingsJoanne Smith, Seasons of a HermitJan Seale, PalapaLuci Tapahonso, A Song for the Direction of NorthLuci Tapahonso, Tsaile April NightsJudith Ann Isaacs, The Land's SongDonna Marie Miller, Mexican SunflowersAnn Woodin, Spring in the DesertAnn Zwinger, First SnowfallGeographies: Journey Notes Sandra Lynn, GeographiesSusan Hanson, The Act of AttentionJudith Strasser, Contemplating Quantum Mechanics One Morning at the Rio Grande GorgeJudith Strasser, Yom Kippur Fast in TaosSusan Zwinger, Coming of Age in the Grand CanyonLinda Elizabeth Peterson, Into the EscalantePatricia Wellingham-Jones, On the Lip of the Rio Grande GorgeLinda Joy Myers, Songs of the PlainsMary E. Young, View from a Hot Air BalloonLiza Porter, She CouldSusan J. Tweit, Riding the River HomeDenise ChÁvez, Four Meditations on the Colorado RiverLianne Elizabeth Mercer, SunriseDiane Ackerman, Working on the TequesquitePat Ellis Taylor, Indian Hot SpringsLaura Girardeau, Natural BridgesNancy Mairs, Writing WestMary Sojourner, ClosingHome Address: The Nature of Urban Life Naomi Shihab Nye, Home AddressJudith E. Bowen, MowingSandra S. Smith, Madrugadora/Early RiserSueEllen Campbell, The World Is a NestConnie Spittler, One Scarlet PenstemonPat Mora, Voces del JardÍnLisa Shirah-Hiers, Spinning Water into GoldSybil Estess, Sunset on the BayouLeslie Marmon Silko, The People and the Land ARE InseparableJanice Emily Bowers, A Full Life in a Small PlaceJan Jarboe Russell, Into the WoodsEarth Is an Island: Nature at Risk Ceiridwen Terrill, IslandsMargo Tamez, My Mother Returns to CalabozNancy Ellis Taylor, Condor Country/New Year's EveJulia Gibson, Coyote MountainCarol Coffee Reposa, In Parida CaveHallie Crawford Stillwell, DroughtNancy Linnon, Surviving: What the Desert Teaches MeGloria AnzaldÚa, El RetornoPatricia Wellingham-Jones, Sacrifice to ProgressP. J. Pierce, The PondThe Sustaining Land Teresa Jordan, SustenanceJoan Shaddox Isom, Gathering at the RiverMargo Tamez, The CollectionSandra Ramos O'Briant, Chile Tales: The Green AddictionSandra Lynn, Poem in Which I Give You a CanyonPatricia Nordyke Pando, Dumplings Come to TownRosemerry Wahtola Trommer, Wish ListWendy Rose, Lost CopperEllen Meloy, Think Not of a Tectonic Plate but of a Sumptuous FeastThe Key Is in Remembering: Growing Up on the Land Paula Gunn Allen, The Trick Is ConsciousnessRoxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Red Dirt: Growing Up OkieDavi Walders, Jewish Oil BratDavi Walders, Big Spring, Fifty Years AfterJanie Fried, Okarche, 1961Mary Bryan Stafford, BlowoutRebecca BalcÁrcel, Crepe MyrtlesJackie Woolley, Belonging PlaceLeslie Marmon Silko, "Not You," He SaidJoyce Sequichie Hifler, The Hills of SummerPaula Stallings Yost, Mercury Risin'Eagle Inside Us Joy Harjo, Eagle PoemKathleen Dean Moore, Alamo Canyon CreekMargo Tamez, On the WingMargo Tamez, Hummingbirds Compete for the Tobacco TreeMarie Unini, The RavenJoy Harjo, FishingPenelope Moffet, LeaveningTerry Tempest Williams, WaterPattiann Rogers, A PassingEllen Meloy, My Animal LifePenelope Moffet, PresenceKelly Tighe, SnakeCarol Fox, Working CattlePattiann Rogers, KnotNancy Owen Nelson, Coyote Love MusicSybil Estess, Mastodon TeethAlison Hawthorne Deming, MonarchsAlison Hawthorne Deming, Sleep, Monarchs, rising and fallingWhat We Leave Behind Joy Kennedy, What We Leave BehindSusan Cummins Miller, The Bone-Man's ApprenticeKathryn Wilder, Stones and JawbonesBeth Paulson, AshesLisa Swanstrom, Land of the Gaping MouthsLianne Elizabeth Mercer, Lament at DuskErica Olsen, Trail GuideDeborah K. Wilson, Light on the WaterSharman Apt Russell, When the Land Was YoungBarbara Kingsolver, Not Long AgoLianne Elizabeth Mercer, How to ClimbAcknowledgmentsAbout the ContributorsAbout the EditorsAbout the Story Circle NetworkPermissions Credits

"What Wildness Is This is a fitting tribute to the rugged complexity of the Southwest from the pens of a diverse group of women writers." - Daniel A. Olivas (El Paso Times)