Methow River Poems

On a climbing trip in the North Cascades a few years back I came across a plaque on top of Washington's Pass (pictured). The plaque was at an amazingly beautiful spot and tucked into a little lookout a short hike from the road. On this plaque is a poem (A valley Like This) by William Stafford. I hadn't heard of Stafford or read any of his poems up until that point. (I would read a lot more later, both on my own and at Lewis and Clark where he had been a professor and his son now teaches...click the picture for bio). It was a great introduction to say the least, and the poem fit the scene so well. It turns out there is a story as to how the poem got there. In fact there are 7 poems all "published" on plaques in northern Washington (I've linked to each below). The story makes it seem like the rangers were supposed to be writing plaques that gave a little history or geography of the area, but they wanted to do something different and got in touch with Stafford who wrote poems instead. They were some of the last poems he wrote before his death and weren't published in a book till after his death. I have "A Valley Like This" hanging by my desk and I read it often. I thought today was a good day to share these poems. I really like them all and go back to them often, they each are important to me in different ways, but today when I read I thought I would share.

A Valley Like This

Sometimes you look at an empty valley like this,
and suddenly the air is filled with snow.
That is the way the whole world happened -
there was nothing, and then...

But maybe sometimes you will look out and even
the mountains are gone, the world become nothing
again. What can a person do to help
bring back the world?

We have to watch and then look at each other.
Together we hold it close and carefully
save it, like a bubble that can disappear
if we don't watch out.

Please think about this as you go on. Breathe on the world.
Hold out your hands to it. When mornings and evenings
roll along watch how they open and close, how they
invite you to the long party your life is.

-William Stafford

- Time for Serenity, Anyone? --where the Methow River meets the Columbia
- From the Wild People --between the towns of Methow and Carlton
- Ask Me --north of the ranger station in Winthrop
- Is This Feeling About the West Real? --also north of the ranger station in Winthrop
- Where We Are --near the suspension footbridge, south of Mazama
- Silver Star --in front of Silver Star mountain
- A Valley Like This --at the scenic overlook in Washington's pass.

If you enjoy these poems, they are published in a book titled Even in Quiet Places. . Lots of poems can be found online too, a bunch more poems here.