Publisher's Synopsis
"The poems from this book are closely tied to my work as a decoy carver. Without those carvings there likely would have been no poetry. It began in the Iowa State University Library when, while neglecting my Fisheries and Wildlife studies, I randomly picked up the book Decoys and Decoy Carvers Of Illinois and was immediately taken by a black duck done by an unknown carver. My ever supporting wife, Karen, having been told of the incident, secretly purchased a fine white pine board and with an old draw knife carving began. On the bottom of a decoy is a blank space which is often used for the maker's name and address, and as my decoys after a time took on, for me, a spiritual aspect, I began burning in snippets of gospel hymns as well. "Yes, we'll gather at the river", "Oh, come angel band", "I'll fly away", etc. Also quotations or bits of poems from Albert Einstein, Walt Whitman, Thoreau or William Cullen Bryant etc. I had written several
