(November 8, 2025) Michigan’s Upper Peninsula holds the treasure of nature where the poet’s soul can live with life in its pure and unadulterated form. Poet and artist Suzanne Sunshower moved to these north woods from downstate so she could observe and embrace this mode of living. Her first solo poetry book Still Wild: Poems from Bear Shack, just published by the Modern History Press, chronicles this transformative journey.
As the fifth book in the Yooper Poetry Series from Modern History Press, Still Wild captures the wonder and rawness of life “off the grid,” living as it takes readers deep into Michigan’s northern wilderness, where solitude, loss, and renewal meet the resilience of human and animal spirit. Using the power of the word as the medium to depict scenes of her encounters with animals big and small, storms, and neighbors, Sunshower widens the boundaries of life in both material and spiritual domains of existence.
At times, Sunshower’s verse is achingly steeped in grief as memories of lost loved ones surface in these pages. Loneliness is shared as part of her journey through nature. Yet she is not alone as two of her loyal companions, her dog and her ever-slanting 1970s camper Bear Shack, stay with her. In “Today,” she thanks Bear Shack for making this journey possible, demonstrating that gratitude has no limits.
U.P. Poet Laureate Martin Achatz expressed her appreciation for Sunshower’s journey through nature as shared in Still Wild. “Sunshower’s poetic GPS never falters,” writes Achatz. “Each yearling and chickadee becomes revelation as she struggles through blizzards, griefs, ice storms, and invaders.”
About the Author
Suzanne Sunshower is a poet, artist, and educator originally from mid-Michigan. Her adventures include hiking the Grand Canyon in a single winter day and learning to thrive in the solitude of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She has worked with thousands of children through outreach and arts education and previously edited the online literary journal Quiet Mountain Essays. Sunshower’s poetry has appeared in Bear Paw Arts Journal, Yooper Poetry, and Red Coyote.
Media Contact: Victor Volkman
Modern History Press
734-417-4266
publicity@modernhistorypress.com
