Thursday, February 21, 2019 // 17
WhAt’s NeW aT tHe 2019 FiShErPoEtS GaThErInG
A
t last, on the occasion of our 22nd
annual FisherPoets Gathering, we
celebrate our 21st birthday. That
infant who was in your friend’s arms
when we started in 1998 can buy you a
beer today and beat you to the next set
and probably break your arm-wrestling
wrist.
What else is new?
The FisherPoets Gathering Gear-
shack, as it often does, has a new loca-
tion. You’ll find it a block east of last
year’s still on the sunny side of the
street, at 1312 Commercial St.
We have new readers. We thank Josh
Wisniewski and Kim Menster for com-
ing clear from Alaska and Karen Gim-
bel from Alberta to be here with us. We
welcome Ray Roberson from Idaho
who has traveled only a little less far.
And we’re glad George Esveldt and
Laura Hartema have come down from
Puget Sound, Jack Molan over from
Central Oregon, Todd Waterfield up the
Oregon Coast, Conrad Gowell, Erick
Olsen and Carlos Reyes, down the Wil-
lamette and the Columbia to give us a
read in Astoria, each for the first time.
Since fisherpoet photographer Corey
Arnold pioneered it a few years ago,
our nighttime outdoor video projection
has become a striking addition to the
astoria Visual arts
Gyotaku fish prints by Duncan Berry will be on display at Astoria Visual Arts during the FisherPoets Gathering.
FisherPoets Gathering. This year Jeff
Daly is projecting the world premiere of
“Horse Seining on the Columbia River,”
a 12-minute film he produced from for-
gotten 1939 National Geographic foot-
age, shot by Frank Hoagland, vice-pres-
ident of Bumble Bee Seafoods and
found recently by Tai Gohl in his grand-
mother’s attic. Linger awhile at Com-
mercial and 11th after dark.
‘As I BeNd OvEr My PeN FiShInG
fOr SoMeThInG GlIsTeNiNg’
By Sue Sutherland-Hanson, fisherpoet
More often than not I follow a gull soaring across
my mind with its irresistible arch. Then I miss the sub-
tle tug from the depths. It gets away. Sometimes I snag
a dogfish with its back cracked by the last fishermen
who caught it, or a ball of tangled kelp becomes the
slippery catch of the day. Fishermen and poets will tell
you that what we do is a lot about being present to pos-
sibilities and surprises. I pull line from the reel, yarding
more and more until a long line of words bends with
the currents before becoming that plumb line stretch-
ing down straight to the dark below. I stare into water
with layers of translucence melting into black. I stare
imagining what swims below. I feel the cutting skin of
the shark, tumble round in the displaced water swirl-
ing after a whale’s fluke, marvel at the grace of the jelly
fish and the wily wisdom of octopi. After a while poetry
feels like breathing under water, a life line holding me
to the air of my mystery.
For 2019, in addition to George Wil-
son’s watercolors at Imogen Gallery,
two other galleries are showing fisher-
poets’ visual art. South Bay Wild Sea-
food Market is displaying Pat Dixon’s
and Veronica Kessler’s photographs of
the Astoria Marine Construction Co.
and the Astoria Visual Arts gallery is
showing Gyotaku fish prints by Duncan
Berry and others.
Other news, though, is unhappy.
We’ve lost fisherpoet and friend
Sue Hanson who passed unexpectedly
last summer. Sue was a generous
soul, a delightful reader, a frequent
and gracious emcee. She leaves us a
good ghost and a thoughtful poem as
we enjoy the 2019 FisherPoets Gather-
ing together.
Thanks for coming.
The 2019 FisherPoets Gathering thanks its silent auction donors
agnes Fields
astoria Coffeehouse & bistro
astoria Co-Op
astoria-Warrenton area Chamber of
Commerce
beach books
bikes and beyond
bunkhouse Cannery suites
buoy beer Co.
bruce and Linn buckmaster
Cannery Pier hotel
Cargo
Carruthers restaurant
Chris Mohnkern
Coast Community radio KMuN
Coffee Girl
Columbia bank astoria
Columbia river Coffee roaster
Columbia river eco Tours
Columbia river Maritime Museum
Columbia riverkeeper
Commercial st antiques
duncan berry
Imogen Gallery
Fernhill Glass
Fish Market skate shop
Fisherman’s suite
Finn Ware
Fort George brewery
Four Winds Canvas Works
Forsythēa
Fruffels
Fulio’s Italian & Mediterranean Cafe
Gimre’s shoes
holly hughes
hotel elliott
Jonathon’s Limited
Josephson’s specialty seafood Products
Judy McCullough
Katie Wood
Luminari arts
Myhermade design
Carol Newman
Old Town Framing
Pacific salmon Charter
Pat dixon Photography
Pier 39 seafood
Port Townsend brewery
Purple Cow Toys
Port Townsend brewery
ratz Graphic / dave McMacken
river bank books
rouge ale house
ryan everson
save Our Wild salmon
shanghaied Tattoo Parlor
senator betsy Johnson
shanghaied Tattoo Parlor / Chris Lee
smokehouse butcher shop
street 14 Cafe
studio 11 John Clark
studio 11 Jamie boyd
skipanon brand seafood
swakane Winery
Table 360 bakery & bistro
Ted Messing
T Paul’s supper Club
Lost art Originals / sherry yost
Wild Product seafood
Warrenton deep sea Market
WineKraft
Vivid Life studio