Shellbrook writer’s second collection reflects life on the land and the quiet beauty of Saskatchewan seasons
Arjun Pillai
Daily Herald
Laurie Lynn Muirhead knows what it means to live by the rhythm of the seasons.
The Shellbrook-area poet is preparing to launch Coyote Snow, her second poetry collection, this November, a book more than a decade in the making.
“It’s been 12 or 13 years since my last book, so it’s finally nice to have all those poems in a collection,” Muirhead said. “I never did want to be a one-trick pony, so it’s nice to have a second book.”
Muirhead lives and works on a family ranch, and the land itself shaped the collection. She describes ranch life as having only two seasons: winter and getting ready for winter. The cycle became the backbone of Coyote Snow, which is divided into three sections: winter, getting ready for winter, and winter again.
“When you’re on a ranch, you have your feed up for winter, but when summer comes, you’re already starting to plan to survive another one,” she said. “There’s a lot of solace out there, a lot of peacefulness, and yet there is survival and the food chain going on. You just have to let it be, because that’s the way it was created to be.”
The collection is as much a meditation as it is a reckoning. Muirhead said the book reflects long hours spent tending to cattle and watching the natural world at work. Coyotes chasing rabbits, calves being born in the early hours, and the harsh prairie winter all find their way into the lines.
Readers may also notice a quiet love story running through the poems, something Muirhead said wasn’t deliberate, but rings true.
“My husband and I have ranched all our lives and worked side by side for 45 years,” she said.
“There’s times and moments when things are hard, but there’s always a coming back together. We’re very thankful for each other to be on this journey.”
Many of the poems were born during poetry group sessions, where she and other writers worked on themed projects. Over time, she gathered close to 100 pieces and began weaving them together into a manuscript that spoke to her personally.
“If it doesn’t matter to you, it’s not going to matter to anybody else,” she said. “When you go back and read it, it has to speak to you.”
Muirhead hopes readers, rural and urban alike, will connect with the sincerity of the book and come away with a deeper understanding of life on the land.
“Those who live in winter understand the harshness of winter and what it takes to survive it,” she said. “I’d hope they see the book as a meditation on rural life, and that they feel that appreciation I have for the life we live.”
Muirhead has several readings planned following the book’s release, and she’s already at work on new projects, including a manuscript about her sisters and their childhood, and another children’s book.
