Above the Line

New and Selected Poems

Joseph Bruchac

Like Thoreau, Joseph Bruchac is a disciplined writer, a serious student of nature, and a master of close observation. He brings his unique cultural concerns to all he experiences—especially the need to preserve a vulnerable ecology while affirming native traditions. In this fine collection we find an ancient village ruin, kingfishers and red-tail hawks in flight, burial places and a cedar flute. This is vintage Bruchac, a voice of hope and promise in a dark time.

Kik ta spemkik, ktsi wliwini.
Earth and sky, great thanks
I stir fire sand—
ashes to wind, wind to waves—
while hands of starfish
calm below the surface
hold hard against the rush of history.
The tide flow deep
in the chambered heart
remains a drum, pokholigan,
filling, strong with the memory of sea.

             —from “Connecticut Shore”

5½ x 8½ inches • 72 pages • ISBN 0-9705344-8-5 • $11.95