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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 8, 2019
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Erick Bengel | Features Editor
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LEFT: At the
Cannon Beach
Library, Jennifer
Nightingale,
of Astoria,
presents her
poem ‘Between
the River and
the Sea.’
RIGHT: Emily
Ransdell, of
Manzanita,
reads her poem
‘Driving to
Manzanita.’
She also
read a poem,
‘Drinking Alone
in Manzanita’
at the Cannon
Beach Library.
BELOW: Victoria
Stoppiello,
of Nehalem,
delivers her
essay ‘In and
Out Weather’ at
Cannon Beach
Library.
BELOW: At
the Cannon
Beach Library,
Geno Leech,
of Chinook,
reads his story,
‘Second-Hand
Smoke.’
LIFE
ON THE
NORTH
COAST
Local writers describe their
experiences for the Cannon Beach
Library’s Writers Read event
Photos by
Nancy McCarthy
LEFT: Katja Biesanz,
of Nehalem, reads
her poem ‘The
Commute’ at the
Cannon Beach
Library.
RIGHT: James Dott,
of Astoria, reads
his poem ‘A Boy
Found a Body’ at
the Cannon Beach
Library.
By NANCY McCARTHY
For The Daily Astorian
W
hen it comes to writing about life on
Oregon’s North Coast, all kinds of
things can spring to mind: nature’s
beauty, changeable weather, dusky waterfronts.
Ten North Coast writers turned to poetry and
personal stories to describe their experiences
when the Cannon Beach Library requested
essays and poems about life on the North Coast
for its Writers Read Celebration.
For Debbie Simorte, who moved to Man-
zanita from Missouri four months ago, life on
the North Coast is still new and challenging,
as she writes in her essay, “Hummingbirds in
January.”
“What I know so far about living here is that
I know nothing. I step outside and see trees and
birds I don’t know. I’ve known hummingbirds,
but never in January. Elk never walked around
my old neighborhood.”
She discovered that there’s a difference
between rain and showers, researched a canna-
bis dispensary and practiced the pronunciations
of AStoria, WiLAMette and Yachats: “Yah
hots? Yah, hots.”
Jennifer Nightingale, of Astoria, frequently
walks along the Clatsop Spit at Fort Stevens
State Park. She enjoys the nature of the North
Coast, but, as she writes in her poem, “Between
the River and the Sea,” loud motorcycles can
ruin her experience:
”Oblivious that his noise disrupts /
The rhythms of the precious little fi nger of
wilderness”
“I hope that people will understand that this
fi nger of land is fragile and will want to be bet-
ter stewards,” Nightingale said in an email.
Nature was a constant theme in the entries.
See Writers, Page C2
John Ciminello, of Naselle, reads his poem ‘Rain’ at the Cannon Beach Library.