Logan Garner, The Sin of Feeding Wild Birds (2025)
Synopsis
The Sin of Feeding Wild Birds is a poetry collection that centers on observations of the natural world and the relationships that people build with their surroundings. From the soil of national and state forests to the sea lapping over the shore, Garner’s collection engages with our sacred connection to the rural rainforest that is the North Coast, specifically Clatsop County, Oregon.
Essay
This collection is deeply rooted in the natural scapes of the Pacific Northwest as an entire region, but more specifically in the North Coast Range of Oregon. Poems such as “The Labor Temple” or “Witch’s Wood” include specific regional attributions at the bottom of the pieces, while other works, such as “European Starlings Above Astoria” or “Phoenix by Way of Portland,” carry direct reference to the inspiring locations in their titles. Going beyond direct locational references, several of the poems in this collection refer to regional cultural events that are integral touchstones in the North Coast community.
On a deeper look, the poem “The Labor Temple” pulls together the experience of living on the North Coast across seasons. Here, the social and cultural landscapes shift drastically between the summer months, devoted to tourism and economic bursts, and the rest of the year, dedicated to the laboring communities that keep the towns afloat in the off-season. Garner acknowledges that simply because the constant traffic of out-of-town wanderers dwindles in the fall and winter, the lives and stories of individuals rooted in the region year-round continue, and the communities strengthen in these seasons as they connect in locations such as the diner, The Labor Temple.
The poems “Fisher Poet #1” and “Fisher Poet #2” both refer to the annual Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria, Oregon, which brings together unlikely crews of commercial fishermen for a weekend celebration of poetry, song, and trials of life on the sea. Phrases such as “sea’s sweat” or “spittle of surfspray” between these two poems cast the reader into the sea alongside the fishermen who are inspiring the works. The North Coast region has long been known for its connections to the commercial fishing industry, with much of its tourist attention drawn toward historic cannery piers and maritime collections. By acknowledging the importance of these current cultural events, Garner is also bringing his poetry into the past and joining the canon of writers at sea.
Without direct reference to the assumed setting for several of the poems, an audience intimately familiar with the region can place themselves in the details of the settings. The poem “Here, in the Floodplain,” which is also the title of Garner’s chapbook published in 2023, lacks any true grounding to “place” other than the title referencing the Floodplain, or brief details of sand, soil, or wildflowers, yet still invokes a comfort of “home,” or familiarity to those based in the same region. Other, smaller details provide a padded context for those familiar with life in the rural coastal region. Lines such as “where the big box store will be” key a reader into the rare occasion of a large chain store in the area and hint at their unwelcome nature in the community.
Although not all poems in The Sin of Feeding Wild Birds are set in the North Coast region, the collection as a whole grounds Oregon as “home” in Garner’s narrative perspective. Poems such as “From in the Cloud Dust” or “Flint/Tender” are attributed to inspiration in Garner’s home state of Indiana, where he relocated from. The “transplant” experience, a term often ascribed to those who relocated here from another region in the country, is not inherently “not Oregon,” as the influence of time spent in the state deeply influences perspectives of life exterior to the region.
Author Bio
Logan Garner’s poetry is deeply influenced by his time spent on the Pacific Northwest Coast and informed by his Hoosier roots from his home state of Indiana. Garner has found a home and community for his writing in the PNW, and is deeply involved with the literary community in Astoria, with regular participation in the Ric’s Poetry Open Mic events, and prior service on the board of directors at Astoria’s The Writers Guild. He is enrolled in the MFA program for Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Garner has led workshop events at Hoffman Center for the Arts in Manzanita, Oregon, and at the Fisher Poets Gathering in Astoria. Logan's work has been featured in the Orca Literary Journal, The Elevation Review, Flying Island, Oxford University's Anthroposphere, and many other journals and anthologies. He is the author of collections Here, in the Floodplain (Plan B Press, 2023) and The Sin of Feeding Wild Birds (Broken Tribe Press, 2025). You can find him on Instagram at @logangarnerpoetry and at https://www.logangarnerpoetry.com/
Further Reading
Elisa Carlsen, Cormorant (2023)
- North Coast Poetry
Alyssa Graybeal, Floppy (2023)
- North Coast Memoir