HUM: A lyrical field journal

Poems and essays inspired by Northern landscapes, wildlife, and inspiring writers

Come March

The earliest signs of change come to us in red …

Surfaces

There’s stillness, silvery, along a frozen river and lost crowns gleaming on the riverbank …

Golden Light, Gray Ghost

A raptor soared above the treeline, vanishing before I could identify it—an omen for the chase ahead.

94-Day Trek Across Antarctica, February 2001

The news in Sunday’s paper, history
Was made with skiers: Ann and Liv on ice.

[There’s pain as fingertips stiffen like cattails]

There’s pain as fingertips stiffen like cattails.

A Wish for Silent Nights

The owl’s ability to hear was greater than most. I tested mine by turning my back to the reeds. Could I detect their movements in the wind by sound unaided by sight?

Acts of Discovery: Waves to Shells and Floods to Flowers

The first time I walked a Pacific Ocean beach was as a girl on a trip to Washington. Feeling electrified, I waded among the tumultuous movements and sounds from the waves.

The Pine

Suffers from a wound. Its resin flows like a stream, down the trunk…

Lake Breezes, Now and Before

I wish I might always feel their presence …

The Way

Of the way the bumblebee goes, hangs upside down …

Melissa Kalinowski

Poet & Writer | Self-taught Naturalist

Across the four seasons, I hike and observe the natural wonders around the Minnesota Valley wetlands and the Mississippi River. This terrain inspires my writings. My poems have appeared in Concision Poetry Journal, Kaleidoscope, and others.