Married into It

Married into It

By Patricia Frolander

Married into It is a collection of poems written by Wyoming rancher Patricia Frolander. This book shows the struggles and harshness of ranching life, along with the value of community and family. Frolander draws the reader into her life where the beauty and vastness of the Wyoming landscape combine with the partnership of husband and wife. These poems show the versatility of a woman rancher, who tends her children, livestock and garden, drives equipment, puts up hay, cooks, fences, and all the while nurtures the community.

Married into It is an engaging work and will leave no reader disappointed.

• • 978-0931271-96-0 • 80 pages • trade paper • $12.95 ORDER NOW

Married into It

By Patricia Frolander

“Patricia Frolander writes of a place and way of life where disaster can be measured in seconds and where the most harrowing loss can emerge from the simplest of mistakes. Frolander understands just how indifferent the world is to human presence, but she makes of that understanding a quiet grandeur. Against indifference, these poems insist on redemptive beauty and the power of relationship. They are unstinting and clear-eyed, poems about the world as-it-is and about how human beings live not in but with it, and with each other, in both endurance and mutual support.”
•• Kent Meyers, Twisted Tree, www.kentmeyersbooks.com

“Patricia Frolanders’s tough and tender poems introduce us to the history of a community and a loving family. She portrays the labors of ranch life in exquisite and sometimes bone-chilling detail, explaining why both "Commitment" and "Denial" mean so much. Her "Attitude" makes the difference between success and failure, and she finds joy in every day .”
•• Linda M. Hasselstrom, No Place Like Home, www.windbreakhouse.com

“Once again High Plains Press has published a book worth reading not once or twice, but to keep on our Old West book shelf for continued inspiration. Married into It is a book of poetry. Before you let out a snort, be aware that writing good poetry is a difficult task. The writing must but economical, filled with meaning. No time to waste.”
••Phyllis Morreale-de la Garza, Chronicle of the Old West

“This is a gracefully written, beautifully published book.”
••Candy Moulton, Fence Post

Married into It

By Patricia Frolander

Video of author reading poem "Johnny Van":

Patricia Frolander

Patricia Frolander, author of Married into It, tries to balance family, ranching, and writing and has a passion for each of them. In 1985 she and her husband, Robert, purchased the ranch his great-grandfather homesteaded in 1885, in the Black Hills of Wyoming. Their family includes three children, seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren, all of whom live close to the ranch. You may find her on a tractor or horse, but at this stage of her life she prefers the padded office chair at her writing desk.

Patricia’s first book, Grassland Genealogy, was published in 2009. Her poetry has been widely published in numerous anthologies and included in American Life in Poetry (Column 275) by Ted Kooser, former U.S. Poet Laureate. She was the recipient of the 2011 Neltje Blanchan Award through the Wyoming Arts Council; winner of the Seventeenth Annual National Senior Poets Laureate Competition sponsored by Amy Kitchner’s Angels Without Wings Foundation (2009); Guest Poet at the Matthews Opera House feature Stars Shine 2008; Featured Poet at the 2007 Alzada Cowboy Poetry, Music and Art Show; and has been featured in journals, magazines and newspapers.

Pat was named Wyoming’s Poet Laureate in 2011. Married into It won a Wrangaler from the National Cowboy Museum, a Da Vinci Award for cover design, and is a finalist for the Zonta 2011 Best Women Writers from the High Plains Book Awards.

Married into It

By Patricia Frolander

2012 Western Heritage Center (Wrangler) Award

Da Vinci Eye Award

Wyoming Poet Laureate

High Plains Book Awards: Best Woman Writer, finalist Eric Hoffer Award Short list

WILLA Award