CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

The current news is filled with opposed and irreconcilable opinions of the world as we perceive it in our lives. In A POEM FOR TWO REALITIES , Cathy considers two different views of the world. If we read it standing up, we are led to one conclusion.  If we, however, stand on our heads, and read

We are delighted to have poet, Patricia Ann Hammill, contribute two more poems to the NESTER. Patricia writes ,”I wrote “Early Snow” several years ago and “Late Snow” this year . With the weather this spring, I thought it was appropriate.” The poems speak simply and eloquently of many of our feelings during the recent seasons.

After staying on the beach for a few summers, in 1984 I returned again to the fishing life that I found easy to leave in the fall and impossible to resist in the spring. ANOTHER SEASON celebrates a season’s “opening day” that always holds possibilities in equal measure for success and for disappointment. Of course, in my imagined first day, wee have success!

Cathy Ross’s Poem, “This Day”, treats a common subject in an uncommon way. We often say to each other idioms like “Seize the Day” or “Live One Day at a Time”. Cathy’s poem reflects on what would we want to say about that “special day” if we lived that way.

Dave Olson’s “A Meditation For Earth Day” expresses his insights into the significance of Earth Day from its beginnings and continuing into the current times. You are invited to appreciate what he writes together with the accompanying photographs.

It’s often said that once fishing is in the blood, it is with you for life.  I would add that it begins with a romantic character tempered by the practical necessities that the occupation dictates and toughened by the sometimes. harsh realities of the life.

SALMON SUMMERS celebrates those years with scenes, stories, and characters from my years on the back deck of a salmon fishing boat.

Salmon Summers continues in the NESTER with Tim’s poem about returning to commercial salmon fishing after several summers ashore.

Seeing old barns in daylight makes us wonder about their past and why they were abandoned. Seeing an old barn by moonlight brings us into a mysterious and almost romantic present and future. CATHY ROSS offers both views of old barns in this poem, and Lee Lageschulte presents photos of abandoned barns in Northwest Washington.

“A Midnight Romantic Notion” begins the final series of posts about the summers I spent on salmon fishing boats in Southeast Alaska. Do join me as I revisit the experiences of fishing for the sometime plentitful and sometimes scarce salmon!