“This Stream Meanders Through Something Red” is the true name of this wonderful land that I’ve been lucky enough to call home my entire life. Evolution of the English version of the French version of the Miami version of the name for the Wisconsin River, the title alludes to the waters that carved the red sandstone cliffs of the Wisconsin Dells—waters on which I grew up and drew me to all corners of this state. I wrote this collection of poems dedicated to my home state with the intention of detailing what makes it so great. To do so, I partitioned the state by its 72 counties’ borders, a decision that demoted some dazzling communities into having to share a page in this book with another. I do believe, however, that I was still able to capture the essence of each county in the following 72 poems accompanied by original illustrations by my good friend and fellow lifelong Wisconsinite, Eric Schiller.

I grew up in Adams-Friendship, Wisconsin (coincidentally the first poem of this alphabetized collection) appreciating the rural Wisconsin lifestyle that carved me into the proud Wisconsinite I am today. My formative years were spent swimming in those meandering streams as well as the less meandering lakes and more deliberate rivers of south central Wisconsin and the greater state. I followed my wonder of water to the Mississippi River, studying between the bluffs at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse where I learned to love the variety of landscapes that the state had to offer, sending me to all corners of the state from La Crosse to Eau Claire to Green Bay to Eagle River to Milwaukee to Platteville to Stevens Point and to Madison where I now call my home. Even with all this travel I still missed a tremendous area of the state.

To make a footprint on more of the state that I love, I set out to tour the eastern—and until that point, foreign—coast of the state. I toured the historic downtown of Cedarburg, poured beer in Sheboygan, walked along the beaches of Manitowoc, and looped my way around Door County. However, even with this deliberate effort to see all of my home state, the vastness of Wisconsin keeps full exploration of the state from my grasp.

In an attempt to alleviate this shortfall, I reached out to everyday folks who call home the places that I was unable to visit. I thank Ceili Shields, Carolyn Myers, Holly Bolig, April Unterberger, Jared Verber, Will Hewett, Zoe Simon, Kristen Olson, Quin Coleman, Brannon Zochart, Allie Hren, Patrick Malchetske, and the numerous other Wisconsinites who have blessed me with stories of their hometowns and gave me ample material to write about their home counties.

I strongly believe that Wisconsin is the best place in the world: with the best communities, the best history, the best food, the best beer, and the best people. I hope to convince you that I am correct with the following 72 poems. I hope to convince you to one day yourself meander throughout the entirety of the state to places you never thought you would: through something red.

For Wisconsin, our home.

Find all the poems here , here (PDF), or listed and linked below.

Adams: Friendship
Ashland: Up Nort
Barron: Void
Bayfield: Superior
Brown: Misnomer
Buffalo: The Angel Buck
Burnett: Below, Above, Before
Calumet: High Cliff
Chippewa: Chip-wuh To You
Clark: Trapped
Columbia: A Strip Once Churning
Crawford: Praying for the Prairie
Dane: Sitting with My Lady
Dodge: Flooded
Door: Heaven at my Fingertip
Douglas: Boreal
Dunn: Lost
Eau Claire: Clear Water
Florence: Unincorporated I
Fond du Lac: Farthest End of the Lake, Closest to Your Heart
Forest: For the Trees
Grant: Flow
Green: Fill Me with Spotted Cow
Green Lake: Blue Water
Iowa: Loyalty
Iron: Heaven, North of Here
Jackson: Unpresidential
Jefferson: Manifest
Juneau: The Brothers Juneau
Kenosha: Inflamed
Kewaunee: Frozen
La Crosse: From Atop Grandad’s Bluff
Lafayette: A Savior
Langlade: Go, Gone, Went
Lincoln: Liberated
Manitowoc: Reflection Across the Abyss
Marathon: Trek
Marinette: Just Across a River
Marquette: At This Pace
Menominee: Unincorporated II
Milwaukee: Brewer of Beer (And More!)
Monroe: This Is Monroe!
Oconto: Alluring
Oneida: All the Water
Outagamie: Everyone is Welcome!
Ozaukee: Strawberry Fest, Forever
Pepin: Unordinary
Pierce: Through the Surface
Polk: Falling Waters
Portage: Here on the Square
Price: Frozen in Concrete
Racine: Just a Kid from Racine
Richland: Golden Soil
Rock: Layers
Rusk: The Sun Poking Through the Canopy
Sauk: A Circus for Sure!
Sawyer: Winter Incarnate
Shawano: The Prince of Shawano
Sheboygan: Dunes
St. Croix: Bubbly
Taylor: No Sound but the Gusts
Trempealeau: So Foreign to This Place
Vernon: Peak of the Bluff
Vilas: Derby
Walworth: Where Time Lays Still
Washburn: Of the Same Bark
Washington: Not Far From Here
Waukesha: Egged
Waupaca: Chained
Waushara: Gem
Winnebago: Calling Foxes
Wood: The Waters of Central Wisconsin