Sam Olson was raised in Portland, Oregon — with Northwest Montana roots. The creek he grew up on — among the myriad rivers that inhabit this book — has been stewarded since time immemorial by the Clackamas and Kalapuya peoples. Many of these poems were written in the occupied homelands of the Salish, Pend d’Oreille, Blackfeet, and Kootenai peoples. His poetry is spare and personal, based in place and experience. Sam lives in Missoula and teaches creative writing in Montana’s elementary schools and juvenile detention centers.
“Whether the poetry is good or not is in the eye of the reader, but each one of these comes from my heart or mind, and often both. They may not all touch you, but maybe one will, and that makes it worth it.
The subject matter is disparate enough to defy generic classification, though I tried. The poems are broken into four subgroups, the last of which is ‘The Rest.’ I’ll let you discover what the other three are. I will only say that some of The Rest are some of the best.”
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