Hello there. I’m Dave.
Welcome to my little corner of the Internet.
Here is where I share my poetry and other creative-writing pieces.
You’ll see that my writing is primarily poetry,
although I dabble in other bits of writing,
flash fiction, café scenes, essays,
and some pieces that are difficult to categorize.
Although I can’t say for sure that I am passionate
about any particular activity, in addition to writing,
I also enjoy long walks.
I have been lucky to have traveled widely,
in Canada and beyond,
and wherever I go,
I walk.
Walking shares a rhythmic cadence to poetry;
indeed, most of my ideas for writing come to me
during the process of walking.
I have hiked many of the longest trails across Canada
and scrambled up a couple hundred mountains,
primarily in the Canadian Rockies.
I even had a chance in 2017-2018 to walk across Canada,
6,100 kilometres between Halifax and Vancouver.
Internationally, I admit that I am partial to
the Caminos leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain,
not only for the spiritual benefits, which are many,
but also for the joy of walking with people
from all over the world along a trail scattered
with cafes and pilgrim hostels (albergues) –
such civilized hiking!
Some of these travel and hiking texts and poems
can be accessed through the Miscellany page.
Though I now live among the mountains and lakes in the far west of Canada,
I still like to travel widely in my country and beyond Canada’s backyard fence.
Everything I post on this website
is an experiment in the creative process.
If even one piece of writing here encourages you to be creative
(don’t deny it; you certainly can write a better poem than I),
or to think about something differently,
or to head out on your own walk,
or to take off on your own travel adventure,
or to dare you to do something great,
I have met my objective.
I acknowledge,
with humility and gratitude,
all of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis,
on whose traditional and unceded lands and waters I travel in Canada.
If you have thoughts or feedback you’d like to share,
please feel free to post a comment on one of the posts
or contact me at DaveGutscher [at] gmail [dot] com.
Live boldly.
Hope our trails cross one day.
Dave