12 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
WeLcOmE tO tHe 2019 FiShErPoEtS GaThErInG
By Sierra Golden, fisherpoet, Seattle, Wash.
GET YOUR ENTRY BUTTON!
I
“This Is the Dream”
By Olav H. Hauge
This is the dream we carry through the world
that something fantastic will happen
that it has to happen
that time will open by itself
that doors shall open by themselves
that the heart will find itself open
Translated from
that mountain springs will jump up
Norwegian by Robert
that the dream will open by itself
Bly and Robert Hedin
that we one early morning
Originally published
will slip into a harbor
that we have never known.
by Copper Canyon Press
Don’t forget your entry button, good throughout the weekend at all
reading and special event venues.
Buttons are for sale at:
• The FisherPoets Gearshack (1312
Commercial St.): Noon to 10 p.m.
Friday; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday
• Astoria Brewing Co. (144 11 St.):
11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday, Friday
and Saturday
• Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of
Commerce (111 Marine Drive):
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Fri-
day; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Alex Pajunas
• Old Town Framing (1287 Com-
mercial St.): 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Thursday and Friday; 10 a.m. to
5 p.m. Saturday
And at all reading venues during
the Gathering.
Price:
$15 each
Children and students under 18
get in free.
Sierra Golden
Ma
Ma rine Dri
Drive
ve
7
9
Bond St.
6
1
13
3 15
Co
Co m
m m
m er
er ci
ci al
al St
St. .
Duane St.
5 14
8
11
HWY
30
4
2
Exchange St
St . .
12
8th
ST.
1
2
3
4
5
1
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
COLUMBIA RIVER
ASTORIA, OREGON
V
n America, there’s a long-running tradition of proclaiming poetry
dead — or near dead. In 2016, in his book “The Hatred of Poetry,”
acclaimed poet and writer Ben Lerner explained, “Every few years
an essay appears in a mainstream periodical denouncing poetry or pro-
claiming its death … Many more people agree they hate poetry than
can agree what poetry is.” To those who hate poetry, to those who pro-
claim poetry dead, I say, “Go, go now to Astoria for the FisherPoets
Gathering.”
I came to my first FPG in 2013. I had finished a graduate degree in
creative writing the spring before and spent the winter as an intern at
Copper Canyon Press, an esteemed poetry publisher in Port Townsend,
Wash. By no means did I think of poetry as dead, but I did think of it
as a bit pretentious, elite, refined. I thought of poetry readings as events
that happened in fancy-schmancy, wood-paneled libraries with silent
audience members — awed by the poet’s words, perhaps, or just bored
out of their minds. What I did appreciate from poetry was an attention to
the world around us, the intention to find the holy, the humorous and the
beautiful, articulate it, and share it.
I’m the daughter of a commercial fisherman, and the year before my
first FPG, I’d also worked my seventh summer as a seiner deckhand
in Southeast Alaska. In addition to loving poetry, I loved the feeling of
sea salt crusting my face; the sound of a remote inlet after the anchor’s
dropped and the engine’s off; the taste of salmon caught, fileted, and
baked in the same half-hour; and the feel of a rowdy bar filled with
smoke and strangers soon to be friends.
At my first gathering, I found the best of fishing and the best of
poetry in a sort of elegant mishmash of worlds. And I found proof —
undeniable, irrefutable, living, breathing proof: Poetry is not dead, and
not only is poetry not dead, poetry is fun, like that quirky half-estranged
aunt you always wished you had. She’s vibrant, and thriving, and hope-
ful, and she came back from her last trip to sea bearing gifts.
What kind of gifts? A hundred and fifty years ago the Spanish poet
Adolfo Bécquer wrote, “Maybe, one day, there won’t be poets, but there
will always be poetry.” He articulated an idea that I think FisherPoets
know instinctually: poems come through us, not from us. When we take
a moment to write the poems we find in the natural world around us, or
when we take a moment to listen to the talented poets among us — as
you’ll have a chance to do this weekend — we are gifted with commu-
nity, laughter, joy, shared sorrow, epiphany and a whole range of human
emotions that make us, well, more human.
Which is all to say that if you love poetry or hate it, if you’re here for
your first gathering or your 22nd: Welcome! It’s going to be a special
weekend at a time when so much of the world feels out of control and
so many of us could use a little extra pep in our step. I’m so glad you’re
here, and I wish you an FPG weekend that feels a little like this poem:
9th 10th 11th
ST. ST. ST.
12th 13th 14th
ST. ST. ST.
15th
ST.
V 10
16th
ST.
17th
ST.
18th
ST.
COLUMBIAN THEATER 1114 Marine Dr.
FORT GEORGE BREWERY LOVELL SHOWROOM 426 14th St.
KALA 1017 Marine Dr.
LIBERTY THEATRE 1203 Commercial St.
LABOR TEMPLE DINER & BAR 934 Duane St.
VOODOO ROOM 1114 Marine Dr.
ASTORIA BREWING COMPANY 144 11th St.
WINEKRAFT 80 10th St.
BARBEY MARITIME CENTER 1792 Marine Dr.
SOUTH BAY WILD FISH HOUSE 262 9th St.
CLATSOP COMMUNITY COLLEGE PATRIOT HALL 1651 Lexington Ave.
FPG GEARSHACK 1312 Commercial St.
STUDIO 11 453-A 11th St.
PIER 39 HANTHORN CANNERY MUSEUM 100 39th St.
ASTORIA VISUAL ARTS GALLERY 1010 Duane St.
IMOGEN GALLERY 240 11th St. / JD’S OUTDOOR FILM PROJECTION