About

Gary Lark, Writer

I grew up in the Umpqua Valley of Southern Oregon. I was formed by the living water of the Umpqua River. It became my guide and metaphor. Seventy-plus years later the constant, particular chaos of the river near Whistler’s Bend still informs; the voice of the river below Eagle Rock freshens the mind; trolling the smooth water above Wells Creek is a meditation. All other rivers are defined by the one that taught me more than I could possibly learn.

Among other things. I have been a carpenter, janitor, hospital aide, salesman, storyteller and fisherman. The last thirty years of my working life were spent as a librarian. My work includes Easter Creek, just out from Main Street Rag, Daybreak on the Water, Flowstone Press; Ordinary Gravity, Airlie Press; River of Solace, Editor’s Choice Chapbook Award, Turtle Island Quarterly, Flowstone Press; In the House of Memory, BatCat Press; Without a Map, Wellstone Press; Getting By, Holland Prize. Work has appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Catamaran, Poet Lore, The Sun and ZYZZYVA.