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 life-long career in education, teaching English, serving briefly as a Poet in the Schools, and eventually working as a media specialist. Thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she was able to study the interplay of nature and the economy during the settlement of the American West—an experience that continues to inform her writing.
Margaret has numerous poems in print and online journals. Her first collection, What These Hands Remember (Kelsay Books, 2022), celebrates the likes of irises, robins’ eggs, and Ceylon tea. Her second, If Seasons Were Kingdoms (Fernwood, 2024), shares the richness of the outdoor world in Idaho and beyond. The poems feature deer, pheasants, salmon, shore birds, bears, and wildflowers, but there is a human presence as well, an observer who loves the natural world and is transformed by her encounters with it. Koger’s poems speak to the human condition and to our connections to the rhythms of the natural world. If Seasons Were Kingdoms received an Honorable Mention in the Idaho Library Association’s Book of the Year competition.
Paperback: 90 pages
Publisher: Kelsay Books (August 11, 2026)