Despite the rain, we had a number of folks come by and try their hand at poems about rivers on Saturday, August 6 in Delhi at the Art and Soul of the Catskills Festival!

We invited people to come and share memories and images of the rivers that they love. We had a whole pile of words (like the magnetic poetry kits that people used to use on their refrigerators — only we were low tech! just cardboard!) to prime the creative pump.

Our goal with this project is to help people share what cooks in their imaginations when they think about the river. What do they remember, or feel, or smell, or hear when you think river? What do they love the most? Our experiences of the East Branch of the Delaware can be very evocative, whether it’s the beauty of the place or the moment that catches you, or the happiness of a day with friends or family together, or the wily trout you managed to land. These experiences, and the memories they evoke, are an important element of why the river is meaningful to us, worth saving, and worth working to increase our access to.

We’ll be posting some of the poems that came in on Saturday in the next few days, but first, here are a couple of pictures from the event:

Have a poem you’d like to share? Email us at eastbranchaccess@catskill.net!