Margaret Koger

Margaret Koger was raised on an acreage near the Snake River after electricity came to rural Idaho but before her parents could afford to buy her a pony. She survived and moved to Boise, where she attended Boise State University and went on to pursue a lifelong career in education. Koger’s poetry advocates for kindness to our fellows, even as we claim space for ourselves. Her first collection, What These Hands Remember, celebrates family life as well as the likes of frogs and four-leaf clovers—even the act of polishing silverware. Her second, the award-winning If Seasons Were Kingdoms, shares the richness of the “braille of clean air” in Idaho and beyond. In her latest collection, Until Fall, Koger claims ”Only poetry / never lies,” as she invites readers to appreciate how nature, our beautiful but temporary home, belongs to everyone.