About the Project

The poetry of a river is connection. Rivers transcend cultural and political boundaries. Water—a commons, a source of life, of spirituality, a place to wash and play, a valuable resource, a mystifying element covering 70% of the surface of Earth, and a necessity for any living creature. Watersheds consist rivers and their surrounding geographies and are dynamic bodies of topography that define people in their places. On my Watson year, I am immersing myself in the poetry of rivers, “a geopoet” to borrow Nan Shephards phrase, voyaging from headwaters towards the sea or vice versa to learn about the connections that people form with place, asking how and why we humans treat natural resources the way we do and how we can better co-exist.