Northwoods Recollections, by Marilyn Zelke Windau

Poetry, chapbook, 44 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

"In Wisconsin, folks go 'Up North,' not so much as a destination as a way of living free of a too hurry-scurry world. Read Zelke Windau's poems as she reclaims a more intentional, full of gratitude life using all the senses. Soon you, too, will find yourself in her Northwoods, as you hear 'cicadas tune their legs in August,' feel 'the Pembonwon deliciously cold,' see 'winter’s coming breath,' and 'berry-hike for raspberries.'"

—Maryann Hurtt, author of River, Once Upon a Tar Creek: Mining for Voices

"In Northwoods Recollections, Marilyn Zelke Windau generously shares poems about a special place, one that has united generations of her family in a heritage of cabin and pine, an 'environment of beauty.' With strong sensory images she introduces us to bears 'chubbing-up' and spring peepers in full chorus. We listen to the Pembonwon River make its 'soft, panting sound,' try to sleep with 'itchy skin ticked and deer flied,' watch birches dance, 'titillating the earth with confetti.' Zelke Windau brings lyrical language and a naturalist's eye to a place I have never visited but now long for. She writes, it is 'enough, with the Milky Way's stars blooming,' and I agree."

—Peggy Turnbull (Margaret Coombs), author of Where Sweetness Falls With the Rain (Cyberwit, 2024)

Marilyn Zelke Windau, of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, started writing poems at age thirteen. A former art teacher, she has had five books of poetry published: Adventures in Paradise (Finishing Line Press), Momentary Ordinary (Pebblebrook Press), Owning Shadows and Hiccups Haunt Wilson Avenue (Kelsay Books), and Beneath The Southern Crux (Water’s Edge Press). A Pushcart prize nominee and an award-winning author, her work can be found in many journals and anthologies. Marilyn includes her maiden name to honor her father, who was also a writer. When she's not writing, Marilyn works at restoring her 1891 house, travels to Pembine, WI to the family cabin, creates mosaics, paintings, and books made with tea papers. A Master Gardener volunteer and an art center docent, she is married to a retired environmental engineer, has three daughters, and three grandchildren.