Colorado Plateau

The oldest organism in the world is 600,000-year-old Siberian bacteria, and the oldest plant is a 200,000-year-old sea grass meadow near Spain. But the Southwest has the distinction of being home to the largest concentration of old plant species.

Writer Wendy Videlock describes poetic inspiration as being ambushed. An idea emerges and then tells her where to go. In her poem, Deconstruction, Videlock, uses an array of bird species to symbolize the infinite experience of being human.

There are two things in particular poet Steven Nightingale loves about his craft: the sonnet, and Emily Dickinson. In this week’s PoetrySnaps! segment, he combines the two in a sonnet he wrote for his favorite American poet. Here is Steven Nightingale with, We Who Would Call Emily Dickinson Back.

This week's installment of KNAU's series PoetrySnaps! features Colorado-based poet Claudia Putnam reading her poem Baba Yaga. In it, Putnam twists the idea of the forest witch, concentrating not on scary mythology, but on independence and connection with nature.

In this week’s episode of PoetrySnaps!, Texas-based poet Melissa Studdard shares her poem, If Falling Is a Leaf. It’s a combination of poetry, music, autumn and the artist David Hockney. She wrote it in response to a musical score written by her partner.

In the first segment of KNAU's new series PoetrySnaps!, we hear from Colorado-based poet Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer. Her poem Big explores a post-pandemic world where lost time and pent-up energy take center stage.

There are many challenges in Western ranching these days—among them is whether a new generation will want to pursue the life. The New Mexico Youth Ranch Management Camp aims to attract young people with an interest in working in livestock and agriculture.

It’s fall and mule deer are on the move from summer to winter range on the Colorado Plateau. These large charismatic mammals are faithful to fixed routes…

Leaving the interstate I entered the high plains of New Mexico where each clump of trees sheltered a house, many of them abandoned. The branches bent to…

The sound of monsoon rains beating the ground is irresistible to one animal in particular. A toad-like amphibian called a spadefoot responds instantly to…