Overview

Using poetry, prose and photography, Waiting to Deliver tells the story of a young man's journey into the world of commercial fishing for salmon on the waters of Cook Inlet, Alaska. Starting as a 27-year old greenhorn schoolteacher from Indiana, Patrick Dixon works as a deckhand for two seasons before buying his own boat and permit. Through a series of missteps inspired by ignorance, inexperience and bad luck, he stumbles through twenty years of learning how to survive the dangers inherent in working on the water, nursing a perpetual sinking boat, staying afloat financially and becoming a member of a fishing community Dixon encounters a diverse group of cannery workers and seasoned fishermen who help him develop into an accomplished skipper. He is mentored by two brothers who realize how much he doesn't know, take him on as a project, and teach him to deal with the endless list of unexpected events and circumstances that fishing throws at him. As his knowledge, expertise and confidence grow, Dixon continues to encounter personal and professional challenges that test his ability, judgement, and patience as a skipper, friend, husband and father. During a career spanning two decades from 1977-1997, Dixon witnesses a sea change in the commercial fishing industry as better technology, bigger and faster boats and changing markets collide with tradition, politics, stakeholders and the impact of events like the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The Cook Inlet fishery is the only fishery in Alaska that is connected to the state's road system. In the mid-1980's the large sport fishing community based in Anchorage discovers the Kenai river's king salmon run and not long after, the tremendous sockeye run that brings millions of red salmon into the watershed each year. In the 1990's, the state creates and gives priority to a subsistence fishery at the mouth of the river. In the process, the fleet loses both fishing area and fishing time, resulting in poorer harvests and more difficulty making a living. In the span of 15 years the commercial fishing community goes from the primary harvester of Cook Inlet salmon to a minor player compared to the other user groups, which becomes a major reason Dixon chooses to leave the fishery. The underlying story of Waiting to Deliver is found in Dixon's journey from a vast naivete' about the world of fishing to an expertise and maturity that sustains him far beyond his years on the water. A published poet and twenty-year member of the Fisherpoets Gathering community, Dixon intersperses the narrative with poems previously published by literary magazines and fishing trade journals throughout the memoir. As a professional photographer and teacher of photography, Dixon's camera accompanied him throughout his fishing career, both at sea and on shore. The resulting images add a powerful historical and artistic visual dimension to the writing. None of us gets to choose how it ends, only how it goes.

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9781088026137

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Reviews

"In Waiting to Deliver, we encounter both hardship on deck and success pulled from the sea, ingenious mechanical solutions and reckless navigating blunders.The book coheres into the tale of life and boats and pulling fish from the sea. The stunning black and white photos tell their own tale? The book gives us many fine poems. Dixon's ear for language, for memorable details, for caring images of his companions (through words and the lens) make for a memorable read, for which the coda (from Dixon's poem ""Farewell) might r.ad: None of us/ gets to choose/ how it ends/only how it goes. --Tod Marshall, Washington state Poet Laureate, 2016-2018 If you're looking for an Alaska adventure, Pat Dixon can spin a tale with the best of them, and in Waiting to Deliver, you can follow his path from greenhorn to skipper without getting seawater in your boots. But this memoir, told with self-effacing humor, enhanced by powerful black-and -white photographs, and interspersed with evocative poems, does more. Dixon's sensitive portraits of the fishermen who become his community and his authentic descriptions of life at sea make this book not just good adventure reading but a powerful coming-of-age story and a vivid account of what could be a vanishing way of life. Holly J. Hughes, author of Hold Fast There is a wonderful pace to this collection of stories, each one unspooling in bar stool or restaurant table language, an unguarded authenticity and immediacy that offers a candid look at a way of life mostly closed off to outsiders. Dixon has a photographer's eye and memory for visual detail: peeling paint, the peculiar curl at the edges of dried fish scales. But he has a poet's feeling for the other four senses: the smell of burned wiring, the sound of a net tightening on the reel, the surge of current around the base of a buoy. Anyone curious about the life of commercial fishers should read this, but the pace and drama make it the sort of book we throw in a backpack for good company after a day's travel or hard work. Samuel Green, Inaugural Washington Poet Laureate I knew little about fishing or Alaska when I started reading. Dixon's vivid and enticing detail made me comfortable, if not expert, in a few chapters, easing me into the captivating experience. A skillful teacher, he laid out facts through masterful storytelling, the best way to learn anything! And there is a glossary with photos at the end for quick reference in case the reader needs a reminder or clarification. This memoir moves like relentless tides through both the challenges of the work itself and relationships so necessary to this enterprise. Everything is intensely personal in these pages. There was never a moment when I didn't want to turn the next page. This is one of the most honest books I have ever read. It takes a lot of courage to write like this. It is an extension of the courage it took to work in commercial fishing and to come out a better person. Here we have a true adventure story - on all levels of a life. Joanne M. Clarkson, RN, MLS, author of the award-winning poetry collection The Fates"

In Waiting to Deliver, we encounter both hardship on deck and success pulled from the sea, ingenious mechanical solutions and reckless navigating blunders.The book coheres into the tale of life and boats and pulling fish from the sea. The stunning black and white photos tell their own tale? The book gives us many fine poems. Dixon's ear for language, for memorable details, for caring images of his companions (through words and the lens) make for a memorable read, for which the coda (from Dixon's poem Farewell) might r.ad: None of us/ gets to choose/ how it ends/only how it goes. --Tod Marshall, Washington state Poet Laureate, 2016-2018 If you're looking for an Alaska adventure, Pat Dixon can spin a tale with the best of them, and in Waiting to Deliver, you can follow his path from greenhorn to skipper without getting seawater in your boots. But this memoir, told with self-effacing humor, enhanced by powerful black-and -white photographs, and interspersed with evocative poems, does more. Dixon's sensitive portraits of the fishermen who become his community and his authentic descriptions of life at sea make this book not just good adventure reading but a powerful coming-of-age story and a vivid account of what could be a vanishing way of life. Holly J. Hughes, author of Hold Fast There is a wonderful pace to this collection of stories, each one unspooling in bar stool or restaurant table language, an unguarded authenticity and immediacy that offers a candid look at a way of life mostly closed off to outsiders. Dixon has a photographer's eye and memory for visual detail: peeling paint, the peculiar curl at the edges of dried fish scales. But he has a poet's feeling for the other four senses: the smell of burned wiring, the sound of a net tightening on the reel, the surge of current around the base of a buoy. Anyone curious about the life of commercial fishers should read this, but the pace and drama make it the sort of book we throw in a backpack for good company after a day's travel or hard work. Samuel Green, Inaugural Washington Poet Laureate I knew little about fishing or Alaska when I started reading. Dixon's vivid and enticing detail made me comfortable, if not expert, in a few chapters, easing me into the captivating experience. A skillful teacher, he laid out facts through masterful storytelling, the best way to learn anything! And there is a glossary with photos at the end for quick reference in case the reader needs a reminder or clarification. This memoir moves like relentless tides through both the challenges of the work itself and relationships so necessary to this enterprise. Everything is intensely personal in these pages. There was never a moment when I didn't want to turn the next page. This is one of the most honest books I have ever read. It takes a lot of courage to write like this. It is an extension of the courage it took to work in commercial fishing and to come out a better person. Here we have a true adventure story - on all levels of a life. Joanne M. Clarkson, RN, MLS, author of the award-winning poetry collection The Fates

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