On the Moors of Omaha

Essays

Calliope Books, 2025

Trebbe Johnson neither hides from pain nor romanticizes joy. In the distinctive voice for which she is known, she explores how the true value of a sacred site is not always where we think it is, how a motorcycle ride upended a fear of desire, how it's possible to make friends with a clear-cut forest, and other pieces that ring startling new perspectives to things we often take for granted. These essays not only chart one woman's journey through a passionate life, they inspire all of us to open up to the marvels that are waiting to reveal themselves.

“Trebbe Johnson shamelessly invites us to savor our lives and the land we live on and to weep for and also ecstatically praise what is living and flourishing in a time when so much is dying.”
— CAROLYN BAKER, author of Undaunted: Living Fiercely Into Climate Meltdown in an Authoritarian Age

“Johnson’s writing is intimate and unapologetically personal, and her essays will leave readers with a positive sense of belonging in an endlessly changing world.“
— KIRKUS REVIEWS

“This remarkable collection of essays — at turns tender and intimate, rallying and defiant — holds the whole of the human experience with a rare wisdom. It honors both the sorrow and the splendor of life, never denying its hardships, yet reminding us of the beauty and rapture that wait at every turn, if only we choose to see.”
— EUGENE HUGHES, author of Alone with Nature