BOOK REVIEW                                                                                           

Title: High Fire Danger, Poems of Love and Nature

Author: Marie Zhuikov

Publisher / Publication date: Poetry Harbor, December 1, 2025

Language: English

Format / # of Pages: Softcover/67 pages

Genre: Poetry

ISBN/Library of Congress Control Number: 978-1-886895-69-0

Reviewed by Rebecca Swanson

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Experience the heat of love and longing and powerful connections to the natural world with Marie Zhuikov’s High Fire Danger

A tinderbox of raw desire and love lost are offered to the reader in the first pages of High Fire Danger, Poems of Love and Nature, by Duluthian Marie Zhuikov. Read further, and you’ll be swept up in some of the finest nature poems that you have ever read.

Simmering rage is craftily kept from boiling over in “The Planet Where They Don’t Give Christmas Presents.” The emotions that bubble up when one is an object of convenience rather than a treasured lover are more than apparent, and with a touch of humor, too.

The ache of loss penetrates “The Long Goodbye,” a poem completely relatable to anyone who had abiding love for a sibling whose life choices contributed to their death. Sisterly moments tender and tough are recalled; feelings of helplessness are endured by those left behind, “… waving from the shore ...”.

Among the nature poems, “Ojibwe Horses” is mysterious and mythical, imparting a story of survival of a breed of horses almost lost to extinction. The magical horses are brought back to life, the story of their survival rendered with descriptions both harsh and lyrical:

How long have you been here,

spirit horses

with your shaggy winter coats for warmth,

extra nose flaps, feral stripes,

hard hooves to walk Canadian Shield rocks, roots,

browsing bark, moss, pussy willows,

bedding down like deer.

The compact poem “Snow Swans” delivers a delicate winter scene of snow and swans and quiet endings, blessing the reader with a calm tribute to one of nature’s most precious gifts.

High Fire Danger offers much more, bringing warmth, wit, vigor, and beautifully crafted poetry to every page of this inviting volume.