A Thousand Miles of Poetry review

 

A Thousand Miles of Poetry: Poemwalking Wisconsin’s Ice Age National Scenic Trail
Katrina Serwe
 
Poetry
Publication April 1, 2026 from Wisconsin Writers Association Press
5.5 by 8.5 inches, 200 pages
$29.99 – paper   $7.99 ebook   $39.99  Hardcover
 
ISBN paper: 979-8-3493-2254-9  ISBN hardcover: 979-8-3493-4121-2
ISBN ebook: 979-8-3493-2255-6
Subjects: Poetry/ Animals & Nature; Place; Motivational & Inspirational

About the Book: In this evocative poetry collection, poet, hiker, and outdoor enthusiast Katrina Serwe traces a thousand-mile odyssey along the Ice Age Trail, each segment etched into verse. Poemwalking, as Serwe describes it, captures the trail’s pulse across every season woven into recollections, layered metaphors, and the whispers of ancient moraines. These poems, like the glacial till that inspired them walk the reader over the rugged and gentle landscapes of Wisconsin shaped by the energy and ice of long ago.

About the author, Katrina Serwe

Katrina Serwe, PhD, worked as a therapist, professor, and researcher in the field of occupational
therapy for over two decades. She started writing poetry after a transcendent midlife crisis brought her back to her love of literature, art, and nature. Her first collection of poetry, First Steps (Brain Mill Press), was published in 2025. Her poems have been featured in a variety of publications such as The Solitary Plover, Blue Heron Review, Bramble, Portage Magazine, and Scrawl Place. Serwe’s awards include the Jade Ring in poetry (Wisconsin Writers Association, 2024) and the Muse Prize (Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, second place, 2025). Her favorite pastime is a made-up hobby she calls poemwalking. You can follow her journey at www.katrinaserwe.com.or scan the QR code.

Jim Landwehr's Review

A Thousand Miles of Poetry is a multi-faceted collection of both beauty and experience. As I read it, it seemed to shapeshift between a travelogue journal, a chronicling of personal achievement, and a documenting of the diverse and wild Wisconsin landscapes. Inside its pages, readers are invited to walk alongside Serwe as she winds her way over the hills and flatlands, past farms, lakes, forests and bogs, in all sorts of weather.

As a person who spent 37 years in mapping and Geographic Information Systems, I appreciate the way the book is structured around seven different sections of the trail. Each section begins with an image taken from the trail that gives the reader a sense of geographic place. Perhaps more importantly, each section also includes a trail segment map labeled with key natural and cultural features. These segments are also displayed in statewide overview maps that help the reader visualize where these poems were written in relation to surrounding counties and the state borders.

But all of this is secondary to the stunning imagery Serwe conjures as she steps her way through mud, across rocks and roots, and over eskers, moraines, and drumlins. As she pushes herself to complete each segment, she writes as part of her daily ritual to record the sights, sounds, and feelings of Wisconsin’s wild landscape.

For example, in “What Comes Next” she highlights the birds and their songs that accompany her and perk her ears.

I close my eyes to the smog and listen—
flicker, robin, rose-breasted grosbeak.
Follow the soundscape through maple shade—
hairy woodpecker, gray catbird, field sparrow.

These vignettes are observations that strike and penetrate the soul of the hiker, sometimes catching her by surprise. But enmeshed with her description of the wildlife, Serwe pays homage to the landscape as well. She eloquently describes how she sees and hears it using poetic prose. In “Inspiring Voice” she writes:

…And I listen to water
as it plays on the rocks downstream where it winds
behind willow and carves its deep ribbons on sand.

Serwe’s sensory-rich narrative pulls us into her journey and makes us a partner with her as she encounters Wisconsin’s abundant natural resources, its diverse wildlife, and the restorative qualities she finds in the quiet of the countryside. She is an evangelist for the environment and reminds us we are mere visitors in a larger ecosystem. This symbiotic relationship is exemplified in “Love is like Mycelia,” where she takes us deeper into understanding the natural cycle of life.

Down underground they are there,
in a network that’s always connecting—
words between roots of the trees,
and the taste of the sun’s sugars shared.

As an avid outdoorsman, I have always been intrigued about the challenges and resulting sense of accomplishment of those who have hiked the entire Ice Age Trail. This 1000+ mile “Poemwalk,” as Serwe so appropriately titles it, gives inquiring minds a sense for both the cost and rewards when undertaking such a formidable quest. I commend Serwe’s perseverance, her keen insights, and her aptitude for wrapping it all up in the beauty of her poetry; poetry she carried with her every step of the way. A Thousand Miles of Poetry is a fantastic collection for any lover of poetry, the outdoors, or both.

About the Reviewer:

Jim Landwehr, author of Tea in the Pacific Northwest, Thoughts from a Line at the DMV, Genetically Speaking, and more. For more on his writing, visit www.jimlandwehr.com

Jim loves outdoor sports including, biking, kayaking, canoeing, camping, and fishing. It was his love of camping in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota that led him to write Dirty Shirt: A Boundary Waters Memoir. The book features humorous accounts of trips he took to the area with his brothers, friends, and children over the past twenty-five years.

Writing Dirty Shirt sparked his lifelong interest in writing and he has since published three other memoirs and six books of poetry. He has a forthcoming short story collection, All That It Seems, (Cornerstone Press). Jim is retired and spends much of his time writing and fishing in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. He currently serves on the board of directors for the Wisconsin Writers Association and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. He was the 2018/2019 poet laureate for the Village of Wales, Wisconsin.