Washington Poetic Routes is a digital poetry-mapping project that explores Washington’s rich geographical terrain, both in terms of landscape and in terms of the human relationships that unfold across the State.

Geography is inescapable. We are bound to the places we inhabit, the terrain we call home. My hope is that through writing and reading poems that tell of the places we call home written by Washingtonians of all ages and locations, we can learn a little bit more about our cities, towns, mountains, rivers, know a little more about our birds and fish, learn about the stories that define a particular place, read from a fifth grader what it is like to live in a place where eventide means ladders left leaning on apple tree orchards awaiting tomorrow’s harvest. My hope is that together, through our own poems of place we will have a new, different way of engaging with each other as citizens. Together we create a living map of what is like to live in this wonderful place we share called Washington State.

View the project at wapoeticroutes.com.