They draw their inspiration from salmon and slime lines, empty nets and empty wallets, rolling decks and weary limbs.

They write about lures, loves and even lives lost in pursuit of a fickle bounty.

The eighth annual Fisher Poets Gathering Feb. 25-27 celebrates the men and women who find the raw beauty in this fishing life and share their joys and frustrations in verse.

The three-day event includes music, art exhibits, speakers, workshops, auctions and of course live poetry readings featuring local favorites and newcomers from around the western United States.

Since its beginnings in 1998 as an informal get-together among a handful of local poetry enthusiasts, the Gathering has drawn a growing number of poets and fans.

Water reflects and abstracts a strip of blue sky on a sunny day. Photo by Lori Assa.”It’s authentic – these men and women are the real deal,” said organizer Florence Sage. “They go out there and work hard with their bodies, it’s so unexpected to hear them have a soft side. Even people who don’t do it themselves respect it.”

Live poetry readings are featured from 6 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights at the Wet Dog Cafe, 144 11th St. and the Voodoo Cafe around the corner at 11th and Marine Drive, and 6 to 10 p.m. at the Astoria Visual Arts Gallery at 160 10th St. The poetry wraps up with farewell readings at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Cannon Beach Arts Association gallery, 1064 S. Hemlock.

Festival-goers can explore both poetry and fishing in more depth at the various presentations offered Saturday. Oregon Book Award winner for poetry and former merchant seaman Clem Starck of Dallas presents “Working Man’s Poetry,” a talk on using labor as a creative writing subject. Poets may bring copies of a poem for discussion. In “Fresh Beginnings,” Erin Fristad of Port Town-send, Wash. offers a writing workshop for beginning and experienced writers.

Lights from fishing boats dot the water at dusk. Photo by Lori Assa.And there’s an open-mic event for poets ready to share their work beginning at 4:30 p.m. at the AVA Gallery.

Admission is $5 a day, or fans can buy a button for $10 that gives them admission the entire weekend’s events.

As its popularity has grown among both among poets and audiences, the Gathering has drawn more and more comparisons to the famous Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nev., which attracts thousands of fans each year. But Fisher Poets organizers are intent on preserving the intimate, informal feel – and reasonable ticket price – of the local event, Sage said.

Astorian Michael McCusker took his turn at the mic last year. Photo by Kim Erskine.Christy Phillips Matlock, of Svensen, read her poetry at the 2004 event. Photo by Kim Erskine.To a packed house, Smitty Smith of Long Beach, Wash., read a humorous story at last year’s gathering. Photo by Kim Erskine.”Jon Broderick, who founded Fisher Poets, said ‘the day the price of fish goes up, we can put the price of the button up,'” she said.

Still, the Gathering continues to grow. The new third poetry venue, the AVA Gallery, hosted a few hours’ worth of readings on a trial basis in 2004 but will be busy all three days this year.

“The three venues will be going full-bore,” she said.

The Gathering is also offering more and more non-poetry events, as shown by Saturday’s full schedule of speakers and workshops at the Columbia River Maritime Museum. Among the offerings are “How to be a Jerk in Bristol Bay; 21 Years of Fishing in 15 Minutes of Wholesale Mayhem” by Baker City writer Whit Deschner, who chronicles his Alaska fishing career in an entertaining slide presentation at 9:30 a.m.

At 11 a.m., Jim Bergeron will talk about collecting oral histories – with four of his subjects on hand to share the experience from their points of view. Oregon State University Sea Grant professor Pat Corcoran explains a new storm-tracking program recently put in place by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration in a presentation that includes a new video on the 1964 Alaska earthquake and tsunami.

At 12:15 p.m., there’s a choice between Starck’s “Working Man’s Poetry” and Jeff Engels’ documentary, “Flags of Convenience,” about the treatment of sailors working under foreign flags. That afternoon, the OSU Seafood Research Center presents a panel discussion on marketing strategies for the fishing community.

Also on Saturday, the RiverSea Gallery at 1160 Commercial St. hosts a Fishers Story Circle, hosted by longtime Gathering poets Dave Densmore and Jay Speakman, featuring local fishers sharing some of their unwritten stories.

The AVA also hosts Fisher Mimi Fox of South Beach, who lectures Saturday at 7 p.m. on her collection of paintings, featured for the month at AVA Gallery, called “Ocean Cowboys: An Exposition on the Fisherman and the Sea.”

The Columbian Theater presents a Late Night Video Show at 10:30 p.m. with a 1938 film of horse-seining, photographer Pat Dixon’s images of Cook Inlet and other offerings.

Fisher Poets Gathering is a nonprofit, cooperative volunteer event, organized by a few community volunteers, with substantial support from Clatsop Community College and the Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce, and contributions from many area lodgings and businesses. The event was designated a Local Legacies Project in 2000 by the Library of Congress. It has received grants from the Cannon Beach Arts Association and the Patricia Freeland Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation. All income from the box office, book sales and CD sales goes to providing the sound system for the event and small lodging stipends for out-of-town readers and musicians. Fisher Poets Gathering mementos are on display through February at Astoria Public Library. Media coverage this year is expected to include Coastal Living and Smithsonian magazines.