Patricia Frolander

Pat Frolander

Get To Know Patricia

Some Favorite Books:

Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck
Cheyenne Autumn by Mari Sandoz
Graining the Mare; The Poetry of Ranch Women, edited by Tereasa Jordan
Delights and Shadows by Ted Kooser

Favorite Children's Book: Where the Red Fern Grows

Favorite Color: Peach
Favorite Song: Amazing Grace
Favorite Place: Home
Dream Trips: Travel Ireland, Cruise Alaska, Rail Southern Canada

Quote Me: Laughter is always a gift worth giving.

Quote

"In the end, we conserve only what we love. We love only what we understand. We understand only what we are taught."

Babr Diown Dioun, Sengalese Poet

Patricia Frolander Bio

I try to balance family, ranching and writing and have a passion for each of them. My husband Robert and I own his family ranch in the Black Hills of Wyoming. Ties to land and livestock have provided a wonderful variety of subjects to journal and pen. Our family includes three children, seven grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. All of them live within a ninety-mile radius of the ranch. Managing family or ranching is like trying to rope the wind. In Wyoming, the wind is either bringing a storm or ushering in sunshine. I love the changes, although as I age, moderate weather is appreciated.
 

My hobbies include reading, writing, travel, and genealogy.

Publication Credits

Poetry Appearing in Anthologies:

Wyoming Fence Lines, An Anthology of Prose and Poetry, Wyoming Humanities Council, 2007

In the Shadow of the Bear Lodge, Editor, Bearlodge Writers, Many Kites
Press, 2006

Crazy Woman Creek: Women Rewrite the American West, Houghton Mifflin, 2004

Hard Ground IV: Writing the Rockies, Pronghorn Press, 2003

Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin' and Rhymin', Gibbs Smith, 2001

Woven on the Wind: Women Write about Friendship in the Sagebrush West, Houghton Mifflin, 2001

Trail Dust: A Limited Edition Collection of Western Poetry, WY Agricultural Leadership Council, 2000

Awards and Recognition:
WyoPoets, Wyoming Paintbrush, 2007
Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship Honorable Mention, 2006
WyoPoets National Contest: First Place and Honorable Mention, 2006
WYOPoets Chapbook, Wind Whispers Down Wyoming, 2005
WYOPoets National Contest, Honorable Mention, 2003
WYOPoets National Contest, Honorable Mention, 2002
WYOPoets Chapbook, Seasons of Wyoming, 2002
Featured Poet at the 2007 Alzada Cowboy Poetry, Music and Art Show  Guest Poet at the Matthews Opera House feature, Stars Shine, 2008

Literary Reviews, Magazines, Journal Publications, and Newspapers:
Owen Wister Review, University of Wyoming, 2007
Wyoming Rural Electric News Magazine: 1999, 1998, 1995, 1993, 1992
Farm Journal: 1993
Cow Country: 1995, 1992, 1991, 1990
Wyoming Livestock Roundup, Sundance Times, Moorcroft Leader, Billings Gazette

Excerpt of Writing

Ties That Bind

Branding

I suppose it was the food, not acrid smoke, bruised limbs rope-burned hands, bawling calves
no, it was Naomi’s rhubarb pie, Eva’s biscuits, Ethel’s angel food cake, Margie’s tender ham
and it was fellowship, laughter as we heaped our plates concern for rain between bites of corn
like woven saddle blankets, each year we plied skeins of friendship over coffee

Funerals

I suppose it was the food that gave us strength when laying friend and neighbor
to rest
remembering stories of his youth, his hand with a horse, his laughter

Haying

It was talk of hoppers and weevil as butter flowed like lava down the mountain of potatoes
frustrations cooled over Iced Tea, sunburn healed with lemonade, fatigue melted with frosting on chocolate cake sharing hay or grain when crops were short as tempers.

Fall

The Gather, bawling cows and calves, anxious eyes scanned weights at home and
neighbors
shipping, sale day, sweat day, hamburgers at home or restaurant steak depending on the buyer’s wallet

Weddings

I suppose it was the food, spiked punch, nuts, and too-sweet mints
shivaree, rice among the autumn leaves and naughty humor sealed the neighborhood blessing

Winter

Howling winds, frozen hands spread hay to cows not all our own
fences snapped with weight of snow. Relief was a trip to town where coffee mingled with a welcome visit to speak of spring and calving

I suppose it was the food, grown with our hands, watered with our sweat
that tied the fellowship, nurtured with humility, heartaches and triumphs



Love Poems

I have a friend, a poet,
who writes love poems to his wife.

I sigh,
then smile.

My husband’s poetry, a back rub,
and forty-six years of laugh lines.

.