BOOK REVIEW                                                                                               

Title: A Thousand Miles of Poetry – Poemwalking Wisconsin’s Ice Age National Scenic Trail

Author: Katrina Serwe, Ph.D.

Publisher/Publication date: WWA Press/April 1, 2026

Language: English

Format/# of Pages: Softcover 200 pages; Hardcover; E-book

Genre: Poetry

ISBN/Library of Congress Control Number: Softcover - ISBN 979-8-3493-2254-9; Hardcover - ISBN 979-8-3493-4121-2; E-book - 979-8-3493-2255-6

Reviewed by Rebecca Swanson

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Settle in and be transported to the intoxicating embrace of forest, river, trail, and sky.

A Thousand Miles of Poetry by Katrina Serwe is a meditation, a reverent exaltation, and an invitation to the art of “poemwalking” Wisconsin’s Ice Age National Scenic Trail. Serwe coined the term that aptly describes her amazing sojourn through a landscape that never lacked challenge or beauty – and most often included both.

Brace yourself for poetry at once meager and lush, bland and colorful, languid and harsh. These excerpts describe the author’s experience on a particular segment of the trail, and are taken from among more than one hundred beautifully-crafted pieces in this volume.

New Hope Segment

The Quiet of Belonging

A flicker trills in the sunshine, coaxing

in the new season. I take off my shoes.

Sun my toes like ten turtles stretching

out of hibernation on the warm wood.

The pause fills with sound:

wood frogs and spring peepers,

yellow-rumped warbler, song sparrow,

broad-winged hawk, dark-eyed junco,

ruby crowned kinglet—

nesting, hunting, passing through.

Hartman Creek Segment

I Want to Feel Green Again

… Imprisoned thoughts

in the winter need the green of forest life.

I go without hope of relief but go

where Allen’s Creek is playing under ice,

lichen and moss are greening boulder edges.

In the pines I find the fragrant spice of life

that’s growing: Norway spruce, red and white pines,

with balsam fir still holding green in boughs

undisturbed by another’s gray and cold.

From the Valley View Segment

Where the Trail Goes

… No trespassing signs and a

maze of backyard side trails pose a question. Which way to

go? Even the trail feels indecisive. I take comfort in

remembering whatever path I take—I will end up back where

I started.

like everything,

the rust-crusted milk can

returns to the dirt

Take time to poemwalk with the author on this highly personal and detailed exploration of the Ice Age Trail, and be warmed by what you discover.