- by Cathy Hird

Landscape shapes us. Cliffs inspire us. Water moves us. Trees and rocks tell their history. Streetscapes speak to us of life now and before. While we often take for granted where we walk, focussed as we are on where we are going and what we have to get done, the world around us calls for our attention.

Many writers who live in our area reflect on our relationship with the land. Some will share their words and music in an event called "Sounding our Landscape" at The Ginger Press on Saturday, September 8th from 1 to  3pm.

This is the fourth in a series of events that examine the relationship between our words and our world. Among the writers who will participate are organizer Cathy Hird with Rob Rolfe, Kaitlin Neath, Richard-Yves Sitoski, Sheila Balls, and Louise Chase. These authors will reflect on how they engage with the landscape in their work and how the land has touched their lives, their emotions, their spirits. The words shared will "sound" our landscape.

As a noun, "sound" refers to the music of moving water and bird song, the noise of a footstep, the rustling the wind brings. Some of the works shared will use the sound of words to describe the vistas of our landscape. Others will help us to focus on details we may look past.

As a verb, "to sound" refers to echo-location, the way we can use sound vibrations to determine depth and distance. For some of the writers who will read and sing on September 8th, exploring the relationship between people and their location is essential to their work.

In some of the works, the writers are reaching to understand the land. For some, the land is helping them to reach for something deeper, something more. For some, it is simply essential to know where we are no matter what we are doing.

On September 8th, please join local writers as they share their engagement with the urban and rural landscapes of our area. Listening to the poetry, prose, and lyrics that will be shared at this event will provide an opportunity to ponder the way our environment presses us to examine our world and ourselves.