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 who’d 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? You’ll 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 Story'With Between River & Street, Scott T. Starbuck is deep listener, ace observer, shape-shifting storyteller. He’s historian, philosopher, climatologist, ecologist, lover, rememberer. He’s 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 Gravy'Scott T. Starbuck’s 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. Starbuck’s 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 you’re not concerned about the imminent collapse of the ecosystems of earth, then you should be. Such is the overarching theme of Scott T. Starbuck’s 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. Scott’s poems tell of some people unaware of that world, while other encounters yield insight on how we really live on earth. Scott’s brief poems carry hope for the human future.'-Bill Siverly, author of Nightfall, co-editor of Windfall: A Journal of Poetry of Place 3