What Water Holds

Tele Aadsen met the ocean as a child when her parents traded jobs as veterinarians for a migratory life shared with sea birds, salmon, and fishermen. In the mist of the Tongass rainforest, Tele learned to explore life within endless shades of gray, coming to know firsthand how fine the line between life and death and the precarious balance of sea, land, and sky. She’s spent the four decades since trolling for salmon off Southeast Alaska.

In What Water Holds, a series of lyrical essays first shared at Oregon’s FisherPoets Gathering, Tele examines questions of equity, identity, community, the changing climate, and sustainability with loving, detailed attention, revealing the complexities within their many shades of gray. Weaving stories of what lies beneath the surface and the possibilities beyond, What Water Holds speaks to anyone who has fallen under the spell of the sea, struggled to find their own uncharted path, and wrestled with big philosophical questions – in short, anyone seeking to live a full, deeply considered life.

“In this beautiful, brave, knowledgeable collection, Aadsen invites us to examine an industry with clear eyes. Her recollections are rich and poignant, and her eye for social critique is unwavering as she lays bare the complexities of fishing life. Gender, death, power, history, relationships, and the natural world all come under her gaze and are shared with ruthless love.”

- Lara Messersmith-Glavin, author of Spirit Things