Soundscapes

In this episode, Tamara Dean talks with Tara Lohan, longtime environmental journalist and author of Undammed: Freeing Rivers and Bringing Communities to Life, published by Island Press in 2025. Undammed describes how we've attempted to control the path and flow of nearly every major river in the U.S. It reveals the consequences for the integrity of animal and plant life as well as soil, water, and air quality. Tamara and Tara discuss dam removal projects across the country and how people and ecosystems are transformed by returning rivers to their free-flowing state. Music: "Liftoff" by Nature Connection. Image: Elwha River, Washington after the removal of two dams, courtesy of Tara Lohan

In this episode, Kareem James Abu-Zeid, translator of the poems of Najwan Darwish in the new book from Yale University Press, No One Will Know You Tomorrow, talks with Terrain.org reviews editor Renata Golden. Najwan Darwish has been described as one of the foremost Arabic language poets. In spare lyric verse, he testifies to the brutal and intimate traumas of war, the anguished fatigue of waking up each morning in an occupied land, and the immeasurable toll of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Born in Jerusalem in 1978, Darwish has published nine poetry books in Arabic. His works have been translated into more than 20 languages. Kareem James Abu-Zeid is a translator, poet, and teacher with a Ph.D. in comparative literature from University of California, Berkeley. No One Will Know You Tomorrow, which collects Najwan Darwish’s published and unpublished poems from 2014 to 2024, has been a finalist for numerous prizes, including the 2025 Walcott Prize for Poetry and the 2025 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation. Music: "Liftoff," by Nature Connection. Photo by Nayef Hammouri, courtesy Shutterstock.

In this episode, host Tamara Dean talks with Valerie Trouet, Gretel Boswijk, and Malcolm Hughes, dendrochronologists whose stories appear in a new book, In the Circle of Ancient Trees. They describe what we can learn from earth's ancient beings; share secrets that tree rings reveal about climate, culture, and history; and indicate how such information could help us plan for future climate resilience. Music: "Liftoff," by Nature Connection. Illustration by Blaze Cyan excerpted from In the Circle of Ancient Trees by Valerie Trouet. Used with permission from Greystone Books.

Tamara Dean hosts the relaunch of the Terrain.org Podcast with an episode titled "The Gift of Animals," after the new poetry anthology edited by Alison Hawthorne Deming and published by Storey Publishing: The Gift of Animals: Poems of Love, Loss, and Connection. In this episode, Tamara speaks with The Gift of Animals editor and contributors Nickole Brown, Jose Hernandez Diaz, and Camille T. Dungy, asking why the anthology is necessary now, what it means to the contributors to be a part of this anthology both for the poets and for the poems, how grief and love play into our responsibilities to the animal world, and why both animals and poetry are a gift to those connected to the animal world. Music: "Liftoff," by Nature Connection. Illustration by Daniela Gallego excerpted from The Gift of Animals, © by Alison Hawthorne Deming. Used with permission from Storey Publishing.

In this rich and reflective conversation, Renata Golden speaks with essayist Tamara Dean about her book Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless and her decades of life in Wisconsin’s Driftless region—a landscape uniquely spared by glaciers, leaving behind steep bluffs, spring-fed streams, and hidden histories. Dean explores how engaging with the land can be both a political act and a personal reckoning, weaving together environmental care, citizen science, and the ghosts of those long erased from rural memory. From foraging groundnuts to unearthing the links between reproductive rights and white supremacy, she reveals how landscape and story are inseparable. Their dialogue is a meditation on awe, resilience, and the quiet revolutions that begin at home.

In Episode 9 of Soundscapes, we listen in on a conversation between poet and essayist Ross Gay and Terrain.org poetry editor Derek Sheffield. As Ross Gay’s biography points out: “Ross Gay is interested in joy. Ross Gay wants to understand joy. Ross Gay is curious about joy.” Ross gay, it turns out, is curious and interested in just about everything, but humble about his ability to understand it. In fact, he’s in love with not knowing, which allows for change and, yes, “flabbergastment.” Along with living the questions and inciting joy, though, Ross Gay centers what he calls, “the noticing muscle.” This muscle, when strengthened, “inclines us to care for each other in systems of distrust and brutalization.” Listen to Ross Gay and Derek Sheffield take a deep dive into the workings of poetry (“the longer I study it, the more I realize I don’t know how I’m doing this”), what it’s like to witness a bee orgy (“I don’t know shit”), and why you should consider turning toward your death (“to not consider our dying and our living the same thing is in impediment to joy”).  Additional poetry in this episode:  “At First Scent of Daylight” by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg “On NPR This Afternoon” by Jillian Hanson “Duplex II” by Camille Newsom About Ross Gay The most recent book by Ross Gay is The Book of (More) Delights (Algonquin Books, 2023), the collection that occasioned this interview. His first Book of Delights was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller. He is also the author of another book of essays, Inciting Joy (Algonquin Books, 2022), and four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. Read the full interview with Derek Sheffield.

What is staying power, and how can we cultivate it? This episode Terrain.org-published poetry as well as a short story set to music that explore the staying power of words and experiences. In conversation with Alan Sincic, we learn about the relationship of silence to word music and how subverting expectations can be a source of wonder that lasts for decades. Poetry and fiction included in this episode are: “A Remnant” by Pattiann Rogers “Eva” by Alan Sincic “Mend” by Alanc Sincic “Phenology” by Jory Mickelson

Apparently there’s nothing like trying to paddle a gravely ill child out of a swampy wilderness to remind us that death, in fact, is the ultimate wildness. But what does that mean for our lives? This episode of Soundscapes gives voice to Terrain.org contributors Janisse Ray, Robert Morgan, and Kim Parko as we explore the ability of the written word to engage with big questions. Listen to Robert Morgan read his poem "Portal," listen to Janisse Ray read her essay "I Have Seen the Warrior," enjoy a conversation between Miranda Perrone and Janisse Ray, and listen to Kim Park read her poem "Our woman." We hope you enjoy our offerings.    Essays and poems referenced in this episode: "Portal", poem by Robert Morgan "I Have Seen the Warrior", by Janisse Ray "Our Woman" poem by Kim Parko

Have you ever held a heart in your hand, or wondered how that might feel? Erin Block’s rendition of just what that’s like starts off this episode of Soundscapes, in which Terrain.org artists explore what it means to be more than alone. Each individual, embedded in complex systems both ecological and social, experiences this differently; poems from Ever Jones and Michael Wasson create a kaleidoscope of perspectives in the search for what matters and round out this episode’s offerings. We hope you enjoy it.   Essays and poems referenced in this episode: “Solo” by Erin Block Poems by Ever Jones Poem by Michael Wasson

In the fifth episode of Soundscapes, we present Love Across Time. In this episode, a lively collection of Terrain.org artists consider love: love for each other, love for places, and love for the hard work of creating the world as it could be. After Sandra Steingraber and Taylor Brorby delve into these questions in a conversation held atop Rachel Caron’s beloved Hawk Mountain, Pepper Trail and Katharine Whitcomb share their poetry with us. We hope you enjoy this episode of Soundscapes.

In this episode of Soundscapes, we explore division and hope from perspectives both human and non. What does it mean to be a citizen? Lee Herrick, editorial board member at Terrain.org, sits down with Soundscapes to share his Letter to America exploring just that. Then, poet Jocelyn Casey Whiteman’s work takes us in an expected direction. We hope you enjoy the episode.  

In our third episode of Soundscapes, we present Sustenance, in which Miranda Perrone interviews essayist Elizabeth Dodd, who reads her essay “Provenance,” originally published in Terrain.org. The podcast ends with a reading of Nathaniel Perry’s poem “Country Gospel,” which brings another kind of sustenance. It is read by the poet and also originally appeared in Terrain.org. Read this and two other poems by Nathaniel Perry.

Recently, Terrain.org co-hosted Conservation in Verse: Authors, Artists, and Activists on Protecting the Landscapes We Love with Friends of the Columbia Gorge. We hope you’ll enjoy listening to poets Kim Stafford and Jane Hirshfield, as well as hearing a panel discussion including artist Ka’ila Farrell-Smith and Friends of Columbia Gorge executive director Kevin Gorman. Additionally, listen to eight more poems read by Jane Hirshfield at the Conservation in Verse event: “French Horn,” “Page,” “Global Warming,” “Today Another Universe,” “A Cedary Fragrance,” “Cataclysm,” “Let Them Not Say,” and “Tree”:   Listen to Jane Hirshfield introduce and read these poems, or download the poems in .mp3 format. Additional information about topics discussed in this podcast can be found at: Jane Hirshfield’s poetry in Terrain.org Kim Stafford’s poetry in Terrain.org Ka’ila Farrell-Smith Links she mentions in the podcast: Rogue Climate Signal Fire Arts

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Soundscapes, where host Miranda Perrone talks to Kathleen Dean Moore about her involvement in the Permanent People’s Tribunal for Human Rights trial of fracking. While delving into the global impacts of fracking and climate change, Kathleen’s unique eloquence and clarity suggest that our problems do have solutions. We hope you appreciate her perspective as much as we do. Read Kathleen Dean Moore’s many important contributions to Terrain.org. And be sure to check out Miranda Perrone’s 2018 interview with Kathleen Dean Moore. More information about Kathleen and her entire body of work can be found at www.riverwalking.com. Additional information about topics discussed in this podcast can be found at: The Permanent People’s Tribunal on Human Rights, Fracking, and Climate Change (May 14-18, 2018 Session) Climate Action Music and Spoken Word Bedrock Lectures on Human Rights and Climate Change, Spring Creek Project, Oregon State University