From Vanished Roads to Wild Roots: A Prairie Zen Journey Through Rockford
There is an old saying that books have a life of their own after they leave the writer's desk. Every now and then, a project grows into something larger than anyone expected.
That has been my experience with Vanished Roads.
What began as a collection of 104 haiku gradually became something rooted in the landscape and people of Rockford. The poems were written over years of walking northern Illinois—following Hall Creek through Severson Dells, listening to spring warblers, standing beneath old oaks after rain, and paying attention to the quiet moments that are easy to overlook.
Those places didn't simply provide scenery. They shaped the book.
Today, that connection has come full circle.
Rockford Art Deli: Supporting Local Art
One of the things that makes Rockford special is the willingness of local businesses to invest in local artists.
Rockford Art Deli has built a reputation for celebrating the city's creativity, and I'm grateful that Vanished Roads by Thomas L. Vaultonburg has found a home there. Even more meaningful, every copy purchased through RAD helps support Wild Roots Nature Center, turning a poetry collection into a small way of giving back to the landscapes that inspired it.
If you'd like to support both local literature and conservation efforts, you can find the book at Rockford Art Deli:
Or if you prefer to purchase directly from the publisher, Wolf Twin Books:
Wild Roots Nature Center
Many readers know Wild Roots Nature Center by its former name, Severson Dells Nature Center. Earlier this year the organization adopted its new name as it expanded its mission while continuing its long tradition of nature education and stewardship throughout the Rockford area.
That mission resonates deeply with me.
The trails, forests, prairie remnants, streams, birds, and changing seasons of northern Illinois have quietly become collaborators in my writing. Some of the poems in Vanished Roads were born while standing beside Hall Creek. Others came from long afternoons beneath migrating hawks, the first emergence of spring wildflowers, or simply watching light move through trees.
Nature rarely announces itself.
It rewards attention.
Wild Roots exists to help people cultivate exactly that kind of attention—connecting people with the places that surround them through education, stewardship, and exploration.
What I Mean by "Prairie Zen"
Over the past year I've begun using the phrase Prairie Zen to describe the perspective behind much of my writing.
Zen is often imagined through bamboo forests, mountain temples, and Japanese gardens.
The Midwest has its own language.
Here, awakening might arrive in a field of big bluestem. It might be carried by a sandhill crane, a red-winged blackbird, an abandoned gravel road, milkweed drifting across a fence line, or the sound of wind moving through prairie grass before a summer storm.
Prairie Zen isn't about escaping where we live.
It's about discovering that this place—our place—is already enough.
The Midwest doesn't imitate anyone else's landscape. It has its own beauty, its own silence, and its own wisdom waiting for anyone willing to slow down and notice.
Community Matters
Independent bookstores, local publishers, artists, conservation organizations, and neighborhood businesses all contribute something unique to a city's identity.
When they work together, something larger begins to emerge.
A book supports a local business.
That business supports a nature center.
The nature center protects the landscapes that inspire future artists.
The circle continues.
An Invitation
If you find yourself in downtown Rockford, stop into Rockford Art Deli and browse.
If you've never visited Wild Roots Nature Center, spend an afternoon wandering the trails. Listen more than you speak. Watch the birds. Stand beside Hall Creek for a while.
You may leave with nothing more than muddy shoes.
Or you may discover what I've spent years trying to capture in seventeen syllables.
Sometimes the longest journeys begin by simply paying attention.
