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DAVE DENSMORE
has been fishing for over fifty years.
"I was born fishing," says Densmore who caught the bug
while growing up in Kodiak and Alaska's Aleutian
Islands. Trolling, crabbing, seining, trawling, he's
fished 'em every which way. Densmore has been writing
what he calls "love letters or poems to the industry"
for nearly twenty-five years. In the off season, he
and his wife, Pat, raise horses and turkeys on their
farm in Astoria, Oregon. One thing you should know
about Densmore...he doesn't like to eat fish.
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ERIN FRISTAD
may not look like your average fishermen,
but she's been surrounding herself with testosterone
on the high seas for fifteen years. What started as a
way to make some cash through college has turned into
a powerful source of inspiration for her poetry. As
she watched the fishing industry turn into a corporate
nightmare ten years ago, Fristad began to write about
the resulting changes. Today, she lives in Port
Townsend, Washington, where she teaches creative
writing and works as an administrator at Goddard
College. But in the summer, you can still find her out
there purse seining for salmon out of Ketchikan,
Alaska.
http://www.erinfristad.com
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GENO LEECH
started fishing for crabs, shrimp, and
albacore off the coast of Washington in 1979. But most
of his ocean experience comes from working on merchant
and salvage ships pulling other boats and barges out
of wrecks off the beach. "Fishing is a good ass
kicking, but I never punched a clock in my life," says
Leech who memorizes every poem he's written by heart.
On land, Leech can be found at his wife, Joanne's
restaurant, The Sanctuary, in Chinook, Washington
where he practices his poems in the kitchen with a
mop.
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TOBY SULLIVAN
escaped from Connecticut at the age of
nineteen when he fled to work on the Alaska Pipeline
in 1974. Soon enough, he found himself fishing the
most dangerous of fisheries, king crab in the Bering
Sea. Since then he's fished for everything including
cod, halibut, and salmon. In the off-season, Sullivan
lives in Kodiak, Alaska where he writes for The Press.
In the summer, he can be found in Uganik, where he
gillnets pinks, reds, and humpies at his utopian set
net site.
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MOE BOWSTERN
has been known to fish for shad on New
York's Hudson River, shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico, and
salmon in Kodiak, Alaska for the past twenty years.
She's also been known to change the color of her hair
at a moments notice (see film). When she's not
fishing, Bowstern is hard at work on her zine, Xtra
Tuf. She lives and works in Portland, Oregon.
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SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL THE FISHERMAN & MEMBERS OF THE FISHER POETS GATHERING
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MOE BOWSTERN
JON BRODERICK
CLAPSTOP COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ZED CUNNINGHAM
DAVE DENSMORE
PAT DENSMORE
PAT DIXON
CHRIS ESTOOS
ERIN FRISTAD
MARILYN GEORGE
JERRY JOHNSON
CHRIS KENNEDY
RICH KING
GENO LEECH
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JOANNE LEECH
HEATHER MARKS
BUCK MELOY
RACHEL MOORE
DANIEL PORTER
RODNEY RISLLEY
FLORENCE SAGE
JOE SCHMIDT
SMITTY SMITH
LORRIE SMITH
ABRAHAM SULLIVAN
TOBY SULLIVAN
JON VAN AMERONGEN
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