On the first Tuesday of each month, the Wilds Are Calling blog on PAWilds.com features one story and its related image from an edition of The Watershed Journal. This once-a-month feature is called A Watershed Moment, highlighting the talented writers and artisans in our rural PA Wilds region. These images, poems, short stories, and other creative pieces come from people of all ages, experiences, and backgrounds with ties to the western PA Wilds area.
A Watershed Moment features one story and image from each edition of The Watershed Journal, starting with its first edition and continuing from there. The Watershed Journal releases a new edition each season. The first edition was released in summer 2018, and they have faithfully continued to publish a new edition each season since then. You can find more information and find where to buy printed copies here.
There once was a man made of water.
Like rivers and streams he was swept to the tide.
He flowed to the sea, he flowed to the sea,
to forces and figures much greater than he.
One day he decided to turn into wind.
So he could bend the world to his will.
But though he would blow through the trees in the forest,
the people near him remained still.
Unmoved by his breath,
as they would be in his death.
So it was then that he turned into fire.
His unrequited passion had burst in to flame.
Some called him a god and some called him a liar,
but soon everyone would remember his name.
And when all his rage had dissolved into ash,
he looked all around at the things he’d done wrong,
in vain, all in vain.
For nothing remained.
It was then that he saw how the world kept on changing,
it was then that he realized he had no control.
And despite all his futile fury and frenzy,
as the Earth kept on turning, Time took its toll.
A fire consumes but so quickly it dies,
wind only howls as it passes you by,
even our rivers will one day run dry.
So then, with a trembling hand to the sky,
Determined to not let his life pass him by,
he scanned all around to find that which will stay,
even when everything else fades away.
How does a man keep himself together?
What if he wanted to stay here forever?
And so, among clusters of large flattened stone,
he found the rock altar he was destined to claim,
a man who had been many things, now alone,
he knelt down and carved on its surface his name.
As Executive Editor of The Watershed Journal, Jess drives the vision and strategy for the literary magazine. A founding member of the Writers Block Party group, she leads its monthly meetings and works tirelessly at community-building. Jess has a focus on networking and engagement for the bookstore and the overall efforts of TWJ.
Jess is a freelance writer and reporter who has seen her work published in the Courier Express, Jeffersonian Democrat, the Explore Jefferson on-line magazine and the Brookville Mirror. After earning her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Secondary Education at Shippensburg University, Jess began teaching English, Literature and Composition to middle school-aged children.
During those ten years of teaching, Jess pursued a Master’s Degree in Humanities at Penn State University Harrisburg. Jess is a featured guest on the blog for the Center for Teaching Quality. She has presented at seminars on writing such as the annual “Elevating Teachers” conference for Pennsylvania and New Jersey teachers. In her spare time she manages to write award-winning poetry—she was awarded first place in the 22nd Annual Poetry Contest at the Rebecca M. Arthurs Library.
Recently, Jess published Dead Letters: Delivering Unopened Mail from a Pennsylvania Ghost Town, investigating the untold stories of the people and places contained in each letter. Find out more about this fascinating book and more at Jess’s Sunbury Press page.
Sarah is the office manager for Watershed Books and creative director for The Watershed Journal literary group. She is an active part of the literary community and loves to write science fiction and poetry.
Author: Guest Contributor
The Pennsylvania Wilds is home to more than 2 million acres of public land, 50 state game lands, 29 state parks, 8 state forests, 2 National Wild & Scenic Rivers, abundant wildlife, hundreds of miles of land and water trails, some of the darkest skies in the country, and the largest elk herd in the northeast.
The PA Wilds team is grateful to share the many stories of this region through the words and images of our talented guest contributors.