I had to miss the inaugural William Stafford Peace Festival in the Methow Valley this past weekend due to pre-existing plans on the west side, but Stafford and I have been crossing paths — metaphorically or existentially or tangentially — for several months now.
It started with an email I received in the spring, from a visitor wanting to tour Stafford’s Methow River Poems, which were then seven poems — now eight — capturing the spirit of the Methow River, posted at viewpoint locations from Lost River to Pateros.
The visitor told me she had learned of the Methow River Poems project several years prior and had put visiting them on her “bucket list.” She wanted a list of the poem locations and assurance that all of the poems were relatively easy to locate. I hadn’t personally been on the Methow River Poems tour and no one I asked could confirm with any certainty that all seven plaques were intact and in position. The visitor, understandably, was disappointed.
“I think it was a wonderful idea that they had back then to do this,” she said, referencing Sheela McLean and Curtis Edwards’ idea to commission the poems for Forest Service interpretive signage, “and pretty original so therefore quite special!”
She added, “I can’t think of any other town that has this, so it seems like it would be quite a thing to be proud of and promote for the town.”
This inquiry inspired a local resident to take an investigative “road trip for poetry,” and I was able to report the positive results of her tour to the prospective visitor, who, after much nail-biting during the extended smoke season, decided to proceed with her trip the first week of September.
The visitor wrote me after her trip, reporting details of her adventure, during which she found all of the poems, some of which required a bit more scouting around. That was all part of the experience, she said. “It was a good thing that some had to be worked at to find, it made it a bit more meaningful and challenging. I am so glad all of them are there, in their places for everyone to enjoy!”
She continued, “What a unique and wonderful idea this was to do this way back in the early 1990s and to maintain this treasure! I am grateful all of the poems were in place so that we all can enjoy them and sit awhile to think about them in a peaceful spot in nature. I would never have gone to several of these special spots if it were not for the poems.”
It made me consider how often many of us have visits from family and friends who are not particularly mobile or active. Visiting the Methow River Poems is the perfect way to experience the valley, mostly from a car, but with frequent stops to explore, learn, and absorb. Out there, in the wind, under a blistering sun or a soft mist, we can really sense what Stafford felt when he wrote “I like to live in the sound of water/in the feel of mountain air.”
We, like Stafford, can be hit by “a sharp reminder,” telling us “this world still is alive/it stretches out there shivering toward its own/creation, and I’m part of it.”
