Broken by Water: Salish Sea Years

by Gary Thompson

In Broken by Water: Salish Sea Years, the contemporary world is suffused with the past, a world where even the briefest moments are layered with meaning: widgeons spooked into flight echo the horror of orcas being captured in a quaint harbor; clouds storming north are like a massive spring migration and make human life seem insignificant; a raven’s croak underscores the outrage of old-growth devastation; one vandalized grave portends the end of our world. These poems are alive in the moment precisely because they bring the dark, often forgotten, past into the light.

102 pages, Paperback

Published August 21, 2021

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have revisited the Salish Sea, its numerous islands and fog, its peaceful and stormy beauty, a place I have known mostly from the shore. Thompson knows it also from out on the water, traveling on his trawler, Keats, where we are introduced to a life afloat, including the thrills and despairs a boat can present to the sailor. These poems revere the geography of the island-dotted northwest corner of our country, and introduce us to a representative sense of its bird life, its history of contact with indigenous nations, and the characters who have lived there.