The Daily Astorian has a lovely recap of highlights from the 15th annual nationwide FisherPoets Gathering, held in Astoria, Ore., last weekend.

FisherPoets, simply enough, are people who write and perform songs and poems about commercial fishing. Common themes include hard work, longing for home and family, enduring the elements, and loss. Alaska is a common setting.

"Well here we go again, 15 years,” said Dave Densmore, a fisherman from Alaska who now lives in Astoria, at the Friday opening. “You wouldn’t think that fishermen would have that many lies to tell. But we keep making up new ones.”

Many fishing ports around the country hold their own song and poetry gatherings (Kodiak is home to one of Alaska's most active groups), and the Astoria gathering has been a chance for fisher poets from all over the continent to get together and see old friends, as well as attend workshops to hone their writing craft.

Seven venues in Astoria hosted fisher poets and songwriters last weekend, including more than a few Alaskans. Toby Sullivan, of Kodiak, and John Palmes, of Juneau, were mentioned in the Daily Astorian's report, which also includes excerpts of Sullivan's prose poem, "The Things You Need," a haunting list of essential Bering Sea gear, for mind and body.

Read a great deal more about the Astoria gathering, here.