In beautiful, thoughtful, and sensitive lyrics, UPSTREAM offers an enthusiastic encounter with a winter journey paddling up the Mississippi River. This sequence of meditations follows in the tradition of Basho's Eastern travelogues-as a contemplation of self, history, and our contemporary environment.

UPSTREAM gives form to the belief that life, itself, is a relationship with the Earth. Guided by Native Nation cosmologies, this collection captures that complexity of interdependency between one's personal, cultural, and ethical values.


Each poem expresses the joy of perceiving the Mississippi River as a living entity, forceful, knowledgeable, and communicating to us through time. The reader experiences an affirmation that our rightful place is here, on this Earth with a river that speaks, if we listen.


For additional information about the author, view: www.MarkBHamilton.WordPress.com