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.

Gary will sign copies of his book after the reading.