RIVER FALLS – In observance of Earth Week the River Falls Public Library will host an environmentally themed reading of poetry and prose on Thursday, April 25 at 6:30 p.m. The reading is named after Gary Snyder’s translation of the word “ecology” as “earth household.” Featured readers are Maureen Ash, Thomas R. Smith, and Ted Tollefson, with an open mic to follow.

Maureen Ash, River Falls, has loved horses, being outside, and writing about both for most of her life. Her memoir, Holding the Lines: Horses, Hard Work, Love, and Potatoes, was published in late 2023. It’s about her family, their farm, and the horses who powered it. Maureen also writes poems and bakes bread.

Thomas R. Smith has published many poems on environmental themes, as well as a prose book called Poetry on the Side of Nature: Writing the Nature Poem as an Act of Survival (2022). He helped celebrate the first Earth Day in River Falls as a student in 1970. His poems often observe and record the natural history of the Kinnickinnic River near River Falls.

Ted Tollefson has served as a Unitarian Universalist minister in Minnesota and Wisconsin since 1980. His first book of poems, Household of Joy, was published last year. He'll have a new book of poems coming out next fall. He lives with his wife Kristen and dog Boomer in Frontenac, Minn. and still preaches occasionally at the UU Society of River Falls. For him poetry is often a prayer to the spirits of place. 

Open mic participants will be invited to read favorite Earth-themed poems of their own or written by others. Feature readers will have their books available to purchase after the reading. This event is free and open to all.

Submitted by Thomas R. Smith