Submitted photo
For Shoshauna Shy, capturing and preserving the character of her neighborhood meant publishing a book.
“ I wanted to have some documentation of life here in Dudgeon-Monroe in 2026 ,” Shy says. “A lot of people that live here really enjoy living here and live here for a long time. And so I wanted a book that would reflect that.”
Knickerbocker Oak, curated and edited by Shy, combines poetry and photography intended to reflect life in the Dudgeon-Monroe neighborhood.
In her introduction, Shy calls the very walkable Dudgeon-Monroe area “a place where it’s possible to leave the car in the garage for days at a time while still meeting the need for ordinary essentials.” Dudgeon-Monroe, a neighborhood of older homes, is on Madison’s near west side, near Camp Randall and the UW-Madison and Edgewood campuses.
Shy, the author of six other published poetry collections, founded Woodrow Hall Editions publishing house and works as a freelance editor. She presented the idea for the collection to the Dudgeon-Monroe Neighborhood Association, which agreed to fund the project with the idea that Shy could distribute the book free of charge. With the council’s support, she sent out a call for submissions through the neighborhood newsletter and flyers in nearby coffee shops. Shy received many submissions; ultimately she selected works from 10 local poets: Garth Beyer, Maya Portulaca Cole, Deborah Gordon, Barbara Gunner Lazaris, Catherine Jagoe, Mark Kliewer, Laura O’Flanagan, Sandy Stark, Wendy Vardaman, and Beth Wortzel. She has also contributed several of her own poems to the book.
“This is a book celebrating the neighborhood,” Shy says, adding she also wanted the collection to remain lighthearted. “It's very cathartic to write about depression or about grief or troubling things. But for this purpose, I wanted a collection that was on the lighter side of life because we have enough grief in the world right now.” In that spirit, the book’s cover features a turkey standing beside a bus shelter, as if it’s waiting for the bus.
Many of the works in Knickerbocker Oak explore the writers’ relationships with the outdoors — reflecting the walkable nature of the neighborhood. “This is what people want,” Shy says. “They don't want to have to get in their car all the time and drive places. That was one thing that seemed to surface a lot in the poetry.”
The title Knickerbocker Oak comes from a poem contributed by Wortzel, in reference to an ailing oak tree that was cut down at the intersection of Knickerbocker Street and Arbor Drive. In the poem, the fallen oak becomes a symbol of loss and time passing, but also of the memories that endure — as Wortzel puts it, “the roots remain.”
Alongside the poetry are photographs of the neighborhood throughout all four seasons as well as a list of locations for its 24 Little Free Libraries. Shy says she had no idea how many Dudgeon-Monroe had until she drove down each street in the neighborhood to locate them.
Ultimately, the book may be less about poetry and more about community building. The book’s May launch brought together neighbors who might not otherwise have met, allowing them to connect through their shared passions for writing and the area. Shy hopes that by sharing the project more widely, other neighborhoods might follow suit.
Free copies of the book are available at Orange Tree Imports, Colectivo Coffee on Monroe Street and Garth’s Brew Bar.
[Editor's note: This article was updated to clarify that Shy's six other poetry collections were not self-published.]
