Koda
Scott Starbuck
Scott Starbuck
Koda was accepted as part of the MSU Library Short Edition call for work on the theme of “recovery,” in coordination with the MSU Broad Art Museum's exhibit of Beverly Fishman's art, also called Recovery. Scott T. Starbuck taught ecopoetry workshops the past three years at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in UC San Diego Masters of Advanced Studies Program in Climate Science and Policy. His book of climate poems Hawk on Wire was a July 2017 "Editor's Pick" at Newpages.com, and selected from over 1,500 books as a 2018 Montaigne Medal Finalist at Eric Hoffer Awards for "the most thought-provoking books." My Bridge at the End of the World, New and Selected Poems, was a 2020 Finalist for the Blue Light Press Book Award. Between River & Street (MoonPath Press, 2021) documents vanishing Pacific Northwest salmon culture before it may be gone. Starbuck's Trees, Fish, and Dreams Climateblog at riverseek.blogspot.com has over 100,000 views from readers in 110 countries.
Walking my American Shepherd
I imagine him saying, "Your work
saving the world from climate catastrophe
through poetry is about as likely
as me reaching a squirrel."
"I need a raven to listen to right now,
so I can look up to find.
I need other dogs to smell,
deer to startle, banana slug to explore,
East Fork Lewis River to drink from.
"Like the salmon, we run, spawn, die.
Our time on Earth is so short.
Walk with me."