Following the Snow Leopard

Following the Snow Leopard takes us into remote regions of the western United States such as Snake Gulch, Crested Butte, the Pacific Coast Trail, and Mt. Hood. Along the way we encounter coyotes, buffalo, dragonflies, and other natural wonders. As the narrator, often with a dog at her side, explores canyons, deserts, and mountains, her observations are keen, whether describing the scent of a ponderosa pine, the movement of water, or the stealth of owls hunting. In the tradition of writers such as Muir and Thoreau, Wiedemann's exquisite work urges us to cherish the wilderness and dare to immerse ourselves in it.

-Ken Autrey, author, Circulation

I have never stood alone in vast, quiet spaces. I could suggest that I follow the writer into and visit them here in this collection. But the poems say that perhaps there's no such thing anyway. We are just deaf to the music, and blind to the colors, numb to the subtler sensations of unpeopled places, unless we practice what Following the Snow Leopard teaches: be still, listen, observe. When the warnings finally come about the fragility of such a world, we can heed them and begin to act or, sadly, grieve. Thank goodness at least we've known it in these pages.

-Susie Paul, author, The Whited Air: Mary Paul in Winter

Deeply personal and meditative, Barbara Wiedemann's new collection of poems is a profound exploration of our connection to nature and landscape expressed through solitude and stillness. The poems are direct, sparse, and intensely personal, while also generously human and gorgeously vivid, like the mountains, rivers, and canyons she so precisely describes. Each a distinct moment of connection, or loss, or simply of reverence, these poems create an unforgettable experience of the power that the earth wields over our souls.

-Kent Quaney, author, One Breath from Drowning