In recognition of women this month, Bend Lifestyle magazine was honored to spend a bit of time with Oregon Poet Laureate and high desert author, Ellen Waterston. Best known for her poetry and literary nonfiction, Waterston uses the desert as a backdrop, a character - a connection to the human narrative and the world at large. Her poetry and prose flow like the many rivers that run through the Oregon Outback to the Pacific Ocean and her love for the high desert is apparent in her many works on the subject. Calling Central Oregon home, Waterston’s literary creations, her contributions to the writing community, her mentorships and programs, are nothing short of truly inspiring.
Where are you from originally, before ending up permanently in Bend? Originally from Massachusetts, I married a fellow New Englander, and we moved to the ranching West, first in Montana and then in Oregon’s high desert, where we ran cattle for nearly three decades.
What or who first inspired you to write? My father was a man of letters, both author and scholar. When I was small, he read me all sorts of wonderful books, some of them in French, despite the fact I didn’t understand a single word. Thank goodness for illustrations! And though she was a painter, when we waited for the train out of Boston, my mother would always ask me to join her in speculating about the others mingling in the station, what their stories might be.
What was the inspiration for your first book? While ranching in the high desert, I was enthralled by a life in which the human presence was dwarfed by nature’s and that what we did and when we did it was dictated by changes in the seasons. I began to get my poems into anthologies and a small publishing house took notice and published my first poetry title. The very first poem I remember writing was inspired by a premature awareness that life was precious. It was about a soap bubble that was eager to enjoy life but popped. I confess, that early poem didn’t fare much better than its subject.
What defines desert literature? In my view it’s writing that features a desert as setting or subject and that explores the impact of deserts on the human narrative.
How does the connection between humans and the desert translate into a poem, book, or essay? I can only tell you about my connection to this desert and the influence it has had on my writing. It turns out Oregon’s Outback is the landscape I needed to learn what it was I needed to know. I am not the first student of a desert. Throughout history, whether on a spiritual quest, to gain deeper personal awareness, or to get closer to nature, ‘deserts are pretty sure to figure,’ as author Joseph Wood Krutch says.
What is the best part about living and working in Central Oregon? It’s all the best! We are so lucky for the mountains, rivers, and high desert, and equally lucky for the vigorous communities and cultural and educational resources in the tri-county area.
Since becoming Poet Laureate, what has been your favorite part of this journey so far and what are you looking forward to? I am so very grateful to Governor Kotek for this honor and the recognition it brings to the vibrant literary community on the east side of the Cascades. Thanks also to the Oregon Cultural Trust, Oregon Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts and the many agencies, organizations and individuals that make this important statewide program possible. In addition to special appearances, my favorite thing is traveling the state to share my love of poetry, place, and the written word with Oregon’s diverse audiences, younger and elder. Why the emphasis on elder? Because I am one and encourage my contemporaries to join in and, along with younger voices, to make their creative case on the page.
Why are writing workshops so important for aspiring writers? Emerging as well as established writers can fall into the trap of thinking they should write in a certain way or about a certain thing. Workshops can ambush those precepts, freeing writers to experiment with genre, voice, word choice and subject matter in ways they might not otherwise.
About Ellen Waterston:
A few of Ellen Waterston’s books include Walking the High Desert: Encounters with Rural America Along the Oregon Desert Trail, Where the Crooked River Rises, Hotel Domilicos: Poems and her newest release, We Could Die Doing This: Dispatches on Ageing from Oregon's Outback.
In its twenty-fifth year, the Writing Ranch continues its mission to support emerging and established writers through multi-day workshops and retreats. With a variety of offerings such as the Manuscript Lab and writing events in different cities and across borders, the Writing Ranch's guest authors teach the craft of writing about unique landscapes and diverse cultures.
For more information about Ellen Waterston, her books, poetry, the Writing Ranch and more, go to WritingRanch.com.
"The very first poem I remember writing was inspired by a premature awareness that life was precious."
— Ellen Waterston
"Whether as a writer or literary arts advocate, what is very clear is that words placed on the page with compassion and intention can save lives, nations, and environments; can introduce us to ourselves, freshen the world, change minds, bend us toward light, toward good."