Susan Carol Hauser

My Kind of River Journey: Seeking Passage on the Mississippi
Many people are drawn to the Mississippi River and its destination. Susan Carol Hauser answered the river’s call by taking an ocean-trawler-cum-riverboat from St. Paul to the Gulf of Mexico with her husband. Her experiences—those leading to the journey, the journey itself, and the return home—are the overt subject of My Kind of River Journey. The undercurrent is the story of the river itself, of the water and the manner of its going, of the rivers of our lives, and of personal transformation. As with the river, the undercurrent is all.

Outside After Dark: New & Selected Poems
Susan Carol Hauser's poems are "words and images gleaned from the heart" -- the heart of Minnesota, the heart of Africa, the heart of the poet. You don't have to figure out what Hauser is trying to say. Only allow yourself to be carried along, by canoe, by tzxi or airplane, by laughter (Generation Gap) or music (Ada, a villanelelle). Feel the way a seal travels, see how a poet works (Tower View)), ponder our relationship to time (Woman Seeking Flowers) or to our bodies (Anatomy). Outside After Dark can best be described with Hauser's own words from Dreaming of Africa" "a dowsing rod of the heart seeking the water of home."

Beloved on the Earth: 150 Poems of Grief and Gratitude
"We turn to poems for solace, wisdom, comfort, joy. We wrap ourselves in words -- words of mystery, words of gratitude and remembrance. As unique as each life is, so is each death. ... This collection of poems on grief and gratitude honors the individual lives of those departed, our beloved on this earth."

You Can Write a Memoir
Passionately encouraging readers to reclaim the precious moments of their personal histories, Hauser shows readers how to transform them into intimate, compelling narratives. Using inspired samples from her own work, as well as essays by her students, she illuminates the process of finding and conveying meaning in both their own life and the lives of their friends and families.

Sugaring: A Memoir with Instructions
In this meditative celebration Hauser reflects on the joys of collecting maple sap and of what she has learned over the years about cooking it down into syrup. She also observes and celebrates the return of bald eagles, the slow transition from winter to spring.

Wild Rice Cooking: History, Natural History, Harvesting and Lore with Recipes 1989 Minnesota Book Award
Wild rice, native only to the western Great Lakes region of the North America, is rich in both nutrition and lore. Using traditional methods, American Indians and other residents of the area harvest it from lakes and rivers where it grows naturally. Wild rice is also raised and harvested commercially.

Field Guide to Ticks
This clearly written and illustrated guide provides information about deer ticks, black widow spiders, chiggers and other poisonous arachnids that can cause numerous ailments, including Lyme Disease and Rocky Mountain Fever. An essential handbook for parents, gardeners, pet owners, campers, hikers, hunters and anyone else vulnerable to ticks and related biting creatures.

Field Guide to Poison Ivy
In this witty and informative little book ... (Hauser) tells us everything we never wanted to know about poison ivy and its noxious cousins, including relevant science, mythology, prevention, and treat-ment. "The person who wants to be spared two weeks of scratching as payment for a weekend in the country should not only count leaflets but learn to recognize leaf and plant shapes as well," Hauser notes. "In its usual perverse way, nature does not make this easy." Thankfully, applying scholarship and common sense, Hauser does. A worthwhile companion on your next trek into the woods.

Full Moon: Reflections on Turning Fifty
Hauser charts her arrival at the 50th birthday marker in this collection of 13 reflective essays in which “she journeys toward appreciation of age and aging, celebrating life's cycles and, she hopes, arriving at acceptance and understanding of self.”