Between River and Street

Trust a contemplative fisherman of Northwest rivers to give us a wise poem collection like Between River & Street. Scott T. Starbuck brings thetender respectful eye of the naturalist; the nudge of the environmentalist; the long thoughts of the tribe; the brush of a painter sending exquisite linesof ink down paper. He also has an ear for a good story scattering characters throughout-not the suits in the street whod never know what the salmon said or what the ancients knew but people met or recounted at riverbanks little bookstores out-of-the-way cafes bars. My favorite is the woman behind the counter or is it Crazy Lucy and her roller rink in the barn or Maynard who loved his cow more than most? Youll read this book morethan once and find your own.-Florence Sage author of Nevertheless: Poems from the Gray Area and The Man Who Whistled The Woman Who Wished: A Polish-Canadian StoryWith Between River & Street Scott T. Starbuck is deep listener ace observer shape-shifting storyteller. Hes historian philosopher climatologist ecologist lover rememberer. Hes salmon and salmon fisherman. Those who know Northwest rivers will want to pass this passionate book to friends. Those streetwise to our environmentally-challenged world will catch these smart tough poems in order to release as seems right. Like the late Oregon poet William Stafford Starbuck writes of place with integrity authenticity humanity.-Ken Waldman author of The Writing Party and Leftovers and GravyScott T. Starbucks poems are Oregon poems-humble yet heartfelt all the way to the bone. Like filets of rosy salmon flesh cooked on bonfire coals; these words lift easily from the carcass of felt sense. Between River & Street is a collection of mostly short but never simple poems reflecting a life lived with daily presence and purpose. Starbucks poems attend to fish and to fish stream-the moss and fern salal and spruce wet stone and rivulet-but also the hominids on the shores and in the quik marts and cafés of classic hometowns from Astoria south to the Siskiyou. These pages honor Oregon existence: good folk whose unfettered reverence plays potent role in the annual cycle of lives lived out in place. Readers be ready; pull on your waders step into the stream. Starbuck casts words like caddis flies; these poems hit the heart like a trout hits the hook lies briefly in careful hand caught-and released into gratitude and requisite grief. Travel down the coast and up tributaries of the inland soul. These are poems of a citizen whois denizen engaged in each damp day and witness to those moments when clouds part and sun shimmers with shadow on the once-magic-waters.-Nancy Cook author of Siltwater a collection of essays. She teaches writing in Astoria where for eight years she also served as the editor of RAIN Magazine.If youre not concerned about the imminent collapse of the ecosystems of earth then you should be. Such is the overarching theme of Scott T. Starbucks Between River & Street. Awareness is a call to action to give up our citified car culture and rediscover our original home. About that home Scott celebrates the natural world of fish (especially fish) birds animals and the manifold flora of his local ground the Columbia Gorge and PacificCoast. Scotts poems tell of some people unaware of that world while other encounters yield insight on how we really live on earth. Scotts brief poems carry hope for the human future.-Bill Siverly author of Nightfall co-editor of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place