Writing Up The Gorge 2018

Writing Up the Gorge is an annual event, typically held in late summer, in which writers spend five days writing at various locations throughout the Columbia Gorge National Scenic Area, located along the Columbia River dividing Washington and Oregon. 

Self-guided and self-paced, Write Up aims to trigger the writing mind with fresh perspectives, and concludes with a display of poems at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River. 

In place
 

The cliche of summer is true

across the map, across years.

In a hum of ends

a dog barks in the distance, 

a car roars and recedes,

crickets rise.

Who knew this could be a life —

to soothe and hush,

to care and not care,

to know the difference. 

Once, I was young and 

wore this poem, alone,

in a city far away

and the light was just like this, dimming 

so that my hand grew faint against the page

and my aloneness enlarged 

to a soft shade of lonely 

and porch lights flickered to life, 

one by one

down the street 

across town, so that

in the cool quiet of nightfall 

every place was this place

and everyone was home. 

— Drew Myron 

Backstory:
On this weeklong writing project, I lost my way. There was an agenda, a map, and destinations designed to inspire writing.

But my days were choked with smoke and haze. I did not take the hike, visit the farm, or drive to the lookout. I went instead to my favorite quiet, no-pressure place: the Hood River Public Library.  

And there I wandered, losing myself. I wrote and wrote, mostly a jumble, but maybe a nugget hides in the rubble. The best part was the sweet relief, realizing inspiration comes to the willing. It's all here and here and here, all within reach.