“Truly, there are so many strong voices represented in this Journal…I think poets are more willing than most to share the raw parts of their lives that others wouldn’t even tell friends, much less strangers. But it’s that starkness, told with an unemotional voice, that ironically creates emotion in the reader…Reading The Shrub-Steppe Poetry Journal gave me a glimpse of each poet’s own life experiences, and too, brought up similar memories, emotions or connections from my own past. We’re all not so different when it comes down to it. This is good therapy for what’s going on in the world today!” — Nancy Atkins, Chelan

“Thank you for your work with The Shrub-Steppe Poetry Journal. It’s really cool that you’ve created a place for poets on the sunny side of the mountains.” — Mark Burns, Yakima

“I’ve read the issue twice and there is much to admire…I enjoyed the book very much. I thought of listing my favorites but there were 27 of them. I’m a sucker for good formalism which is so hard to write, but I was charmed by Betty Hartgrave’s “Surprise;” it’s light but nice. The point is I think you all made good editorial choices that show a variety of utterances that work. thanks for all your efforts.” — Joseph Powell, Ellensburg

We enjoyed some really good poems at our most recent Podium. We read our own stuff, of course, plus several of us read something from well-known poets. I particularly enjoyed the William Stafford poems which Susan L. read: “Is This Feeling About the West Real?” and “A Valley Like This .” In fact, they inspired me to dust off my copy of his book, The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems, and work my way through it again. Here is one of my favorites:

You Reading This, Be Ready
by William Stafford

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now?  Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day.  This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life -

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

Read about William E. Stafford at the Poetry Foundation.