Returning Salmon

summer clings to the tired trees
the calm surface
masks the pull beneath
mist rises and drags
my shoulder like a straining sun
above the drowning golds and greens

hooks
in my mouth and fins
are being reeled in
though I am promised life
in truth
I will find my death
In these streams and pools
Of my youth

I shudder
Forces of stone and of water
Are arrayed against me
I split the flood
And above it heave
my muscled shoulder
Stained with blood

Am I my father
I feel within me
Myself strain
Against the cage of rotten flesh
I make the same journey
I am as old
I heave the same crimson shoulder
From the cold

The ghost of a dipper
My father saw
Walks across the river bed
And while currents drag
From out that hungry torrent
I force my father’s flag

Beside me
Someone is eaten
By a bear
I wonder if his father
Was also devoured there

Am I an ignited phoenix
I try
Shoving my shoulder
From the water
It does not fly

Am I my child
The thoughts thud
Is my shoulder tinged
With his blood


My shoulder surrenders
And slips beneath
I am my son
My task is done
It’s a relief