Bridge Walks + Poetry (July-October)

Eight poets have been announced for the 2007 “Bridge Walks & Poetry”

Through October 27

Sharon Wood Wortman, author of The Portland Bridge Book (third edition 2006), begins her second season of adding poetry to her popular bridge walk series for Portland Parks & Outdoor Recreation. Poets read about bridges concrete and/or metaphorica as part of the itinerary on the following dates:

Sunday June 24 - Rita Ott-Ramstad
Wednesday July 4 - Willa Schneberg
Sunday July 22 - Donna Henderson
Saturday August 4 - Judith Arcana
Saturday Sept. 22 - Ann Staley
Friday Oct. 12 - Dianne Stepp
Saturday Oct. 27 - Oregon Poet Laureate Lawson Inada

In addition, singer-songwriter Stephen Cohen will occasionally drop by to perform “Bridges of this Town.”

Stops include the Morrison Bridge operator house and bascule pit (gears 36 feet tall and 950-ton counterweight), the National Park Service “Willamette River Bridges” exhibit at Oregon Dept. of Transportation Region 1 in Old Town, and the Willamette Greenway Trail. Walkers will see eight of Portland’s Central City bridges, among them the oldest operating vertical lift bridge, a unique double-decker, and one of the world’s longest steel tied arches.

Walks begin at NW 2nd and Everett on the steps of the NW Natural Building, and end with lunch (extra $) at Dan & Louis Oyster Bar.

Register with Portland Parks & Outdoor Recreation at 503 823-5132, or with Sharon at 503-222-5535. Registration suggested but not required for walks May through September; registration is required for the October walks.

Fee: $15 (adults) and $10 (children 14 and under). 8:30 a.m. to Noon.

Don Colburn, of Portland, is the author of As If Gravity Were a Theory, winner of the 2005 Cider Press Review Book Award. Another Way to Begin won the Finishing Line Press Poetry Prize and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in feature writing, Colburn worked many years for The Washington Post and now reports for The Oregonian. He is a board member of the Friends of William Stafford.