my work is to attend
to know how shadows move as sun shifts
to notice every fiddlehead who rises, startling
to call each creature by name
my work is to recognize
all that I do not yet know
tendril after fragment
leaflet after rind
to step
ever deeper
into mystery
which is to say
ever deeper
into you
Krissy Kludt
Poet Krissy Kludt is the founder and Executive Director of Writing the Wild (co-guided with J. Drew Lanham). Her debut poetry collection is forthcoming from Green Writers Press in Spring 2026. Her work appears in Taking Liberties (Cutthroat 2025), The Nature of Our Times, Humana Obscura, The Wildness We Tend, Tremblings, and Stories from the Trail (Wayfarer Books 2024). She guides retreats and workshops on writing, creativity, and nature connection. She is a convener, and as a former public-school teacher she brings a holistic learning approach to each experience she guides. She is most at home in the hills; after two decades in California, she and her family now reside in the Driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin.
