Colorado Plateau

After sunset, the eerie choruses of coyotes are among the most iconic sounds of the American West.

Fire lookout towers didn't exist in Arizona in the early 1900s. Instead, firefighters use tall ponderosa pines near mountain tops or other strategic viewpoints.

The Four Corners potato fed people 10,000 years ago and now the ancient, nutrient-packed spud is drawing new interest.

In his latest Canyon Commentary, Scott Thybony recounts the gripping story of Flagstaff photographer Elias Butler's near-miss with a flash flood in the Zion Canyon Narrows.

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.