Daybreak on the Water

As a child, Gary Lark camped where a creek joins Oregon's North Umpqua River, "sleeping in the river's voice." Confessing that "there's a part of me still there / surrounded by enormous trees / the river singing me alive," he offers us Daybreak on the Water, his song-cycle paying homage to the Umpqua. Here, the communion among river and poet and reader is palpable: at the fisherman's table, " the platter is passed from hand to hand, / each tongue tasting the river / in the salmon's flesh." This fisherman's river-poems carry what the Umpqua carries, "the wonderment of living things." -Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita

Daybreak on the Water is a vivid and authentic reminiscence of a rugged, playful, deliberate and reflective life among the wild woods and waterways of Oregon's Umpqua valley. Lark's warmly told and deftly detailed narratives provide a natural and cultural history that will entertain and edify generations of readers. We meet many colorful characters-loggers, anglers, clammers, boatbuilders, poachers, sheriffs, sweethearts and old friends- that allow us to press ourselves "into the tides of each other / releasing our unutterable selves."

-Henry Hughes, Oregon Book Award-winning poet and author of Back Seat with Fish