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Lynn Hoggard
Poet ~ Writer ~ Translator
The poet at the summit of Wheeler Peak, New Mexico's highest mountain.
BOOKS
BOOKS BY LYNN HOGGARD
REVIEWS
REVIEWS
You won't forget this book, a tiny, elegantly printed book that makes you aware of how firmly she condensed her lyric powers into these honed poems.
PAUL CHRISTENSEN
First Light
An astonishingly powerful collection that stands as a virtuoso example of how great writers can turn pain into art.
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I wish there were more works out there like this. Honest, emotional, funny, beautiful, and well-written.
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C. SULLIVAN
Motherland
C. W. SMITH
First Light
Bio
B I O
Dr. Lynn Hoggard is an award-winning poet, author, translator, and professor emerita from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Texas. She taught English, French, and coordinated the Humanities Program there, and published eight books. In 1997 she was named the MSU Hardin Professor for outstanding teaching, scholarship, and service. She also served as president of the American Literary Translators Association (1997-1999) and has taught in England, France, and Mexico.
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After retiring from teaching, Hoggard quickly developed a following as a poet. Her prose and poetry memoir Motherland takes readers on a journey that includes civil-rights turning points, skinning squirrels, and becoming Miss Shreveport. Bushwhacking Home won the 2018 Press Women of Texas award for best book of poetry. Her 2017 poem, “Love in the Desert,” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Word Fountain, and her poem “In the Garden” was nominated for a “Best of the Net” award by Bluestem. She has published more than 125 poems in peer-reviewed journals in the U.S.
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Her latest book, First Light: Poems of Loss and Love, speaks directly, bravely, and clearly to death and loss while the poet courageously finds her way, carrying the reader with her into a state of faith and transformation. Dedicated to her late husband and fellow poet, James Hoggard, the book is both companion and guide for those who suffer the loss of a great love, and it speaks to a generation of caregivers who give their all in love to their partner or family member.
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A member of the Poetry Society of Texas, the Wichita Falls Poetry Society, and the Texas Institute of Letters, Hoggard continues to mentor aspiring poets and writers.
“A Poem is a Holy Thing.” — Theodore Roethke
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Lynn Hoggard has published more than 125 poems in peer-reviewed journals and publications. Her work has appeared in descant, Atlanta Review, the Healing Muse, the Oklahoma Review, New Ohio Review, Concho River Review, 13th Moon, Soundings, Glassworks Magazine, Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Rosebud, MacGuffin, Blue Stem, and Voices de la Luna, among many others.
PEAKING
The Broken Plate, 2014
At 13,161', Wheeler Peak is New Mexico’s highest point.
Once again I’d like to scale
that rugged rock, sow my energy
across the trail, greet the consternated
bighorn sheep, the yelping marmots,
and heave my aging body up and up,
beyond the treeline, into blasts
of icy, windswept air.
Once more I’d like to sign that aerie registry
affirming I’ve been there, with luck
this time without the lightning,
sleet, or mudslides, the soaking clothes,
the boots awash in water. This time
the route will be much steeper, but
half the sixteen miles I trudged before.
Perhaps, these three years later, I won’t make it
to the top; perhaps my legs and lungs
will halt before I’m there, so I will stay
below the treeline, looking up to where
I’ve gone before and want to go again,
knowing my place for now will be to try—
to yearn for peaks of rock and wind and sky.
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