‘THE SALT OF THE EARTH’
THE 19TH ANNUAL FISHERPOETS GATHERING BRINGS COMMERCIAL FISHING POETRY, MUSIC,
PHOTOGRAPHY, FILMS, WORKSHOPS AND MORE TO DOWNTOWN ASTORIA FEB. 26, 27 & 28
Story by DWIGHT CASWELL
“
I’ve made my living as a
carpenter and a merchant
seaman,” says Clem Starck.
“It’s physical work. It’s what I
know, and so it’s the subject matter
of my poetry. Not exclusively, but
it’s what comes to me.”
Starck writes what academics
call “occupational folk poetry” —
that is, poetry about the hazards and
rewards, the tragedy and comedy of
often physically challenging work.
Starck simply says, “My poetry is
down to earth and accessible. It’s
not esoteric. It’s plain and simple.
I use direct language.” In other
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of his work, and he has done both
the work and the words about the
work for more than 50 years.
Starck comes to Astoria to read
his poetry at almost every Fisher-
Poets Gathering, and he’ll be there
again this year. “For me it is one of
the highlights of the year. There’s
nothing like it,” he says. “It’s quite
authentic, not a lot of showman-
ship. It’s the salt of the earth, with
an interesting variety of voices.”
“I always try to read a few new
poems,” Starck adds, “but
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It takes me a long
Check
time to write a
out the offi cial
poem.” No mat-
ter. Starck has
guide to this
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year’s FisherPo
books of poet-
ets
Gathering star
ry, and he has
ting
a repertoire of
on page 13
about 150 poems
to draw upon.
One of the people
Submitted photo
who will be listening at-
The FisherPoets Gathering came about from some
Photo by Joshua Bessex
tentively is Jon Broderick. It
Jay Speakman will lead a story circle at the Astoria Event Center from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday, where phone calls fi sherman Jon Broderick made back in
1998.
ZDVDWDUHDGLQJDW/LQ¿HOG&ROOHJH commercial fi shing veterans will tell tales of adventure or tedium working on the water.
when Starck was an Oregon Book
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heard Starck’s poetry. It came as Starcks’ “work poetry,” Broderick
a revelation to Broderick that you says, “was the inspiration for the
could write poetry about work, FisherPoets Gathering.”
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and a few years later he
began making the last weekend of February 1998, FLDO ¿VKLQJ FRPPXQLWLHV RQ ERWK cated longtime commercial salmon
the
phone and it has been held on that week- coasts will participate. Deckhands, ¿VKHUDQWKURSRORJLVWDQG¿VKHUSRHW
calls that end every year since. Originally skippers, cannery workers, ship- When she’s not reciting, she’ll be at
led
to a small, unpretentious reunion of ZULJKWVDQ\RQHLQWKH¿VKLQJFRP Baked Alaska’s new annex provid-
GLVWDQW IULHQGV LQ FRPPHUFLDO ¿VK munity with a taste for poesy will ing activities for kids that will in-
eries, the gathering today remains declaim or sing their work for the clude storytelling and oral histories.
Corey Arnold is a commercial
unpretentious, but every year it has fans gathering in bars, restaurants,
grown. My, how it has grown. This art galleries, the Columbian The- ¿VKHU LQ$ODVNDZKR XQWLOUHFHQWO\
year songwriters, storytellers and ater, Clatsop Community College was a deckhand on the f/v Rollo
even photographers from commer- and the Columbia River Maritime crabbing in the Bering Sea. Now he
Museum. This year there will be runs a sockeye salmon setnet opera-
over 95 poets, including 26 tion out of Bristol Bay, but don’t ex-
new voices to add to the pect to hear him reading any poems
familiar ones. There will DERXW FKDVLQJ ¿VK RU FUDE$UQROG
be new bands, comedy and is a widely published and exhibit-
ed photographer who is chronicling
“FisherKids.”
“We’ve got every- WKH FRPPHUFLDO ¿VKLQJ OLIHVW\OH
throughout the world. His exhibit
thing,” says Broderick.
FisherKids is overseen by at Imogen Gallery coincides with
Emilie Springer, a native of Ho- FisherPoets, but his unique contri-
mer, Alaska, and a Stanford-edu- bution to the Gathering will be large
projections of his images on the
walls of downtown buildings.
Photo by Joshua Bessex
There will be a second photography
Renee Ruscoe, left, gives a tour of the Cold
Stream, a fi shing boat owned by fi sherpoet Dave exhibit at the Gathering: “Lost at Sea:
Densmore, during the 2015 festival. Tours of the Remembering the Victims of the F/V
This year there will be over 95 poets, including
26 new voices to add to the familiar ones.
boat, docked on Pier 39, are available to the pub-
lic again this year from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday
morning.
10 | February 25, 2016 | coastweekend.com
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