By Kim Addonizio
In this shallow creek
they flop and writhe forward as the dead
float back toward them. Oh, I know
what I should say: fierce burning in the body
as her eggs burst free, milky cloud
of sperm as he quickens them. I should stand
on the bridge with my camera,
frame the white froth of rapids where one
arcs up for an instant in its final grace.
But I have to go down among
the rocks the glacier left
and squat at the edge of the water
where a stinking pile of them lies,
where one crow balances and sinks
its beak into a gelid eye.
I have to study the small holes
gouged into their skin, their useless gills,
their gowns of black flies. I can't
make them sing. I want to,
but all they do is open
their mouths a little wider
so the water pours in
until I feel like I'm drowning.
On the bridge the tour bus waits
and someone waves, and calls down
It's time, and the current keeps lifting
dirt from the bottom to cover the eggs.
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I'm still somewhat jetlagged, so this may not make much sense, but we got lots of fresh air on Saturday at Salmon Days in Issaquah, which has hundreds of artisans and food vendors, live music, and lots of people visiting the fish ladder to watch the salmon as they return to the local streams to spawn. We only consumed Thai iced tea and the french fries that McDonalds was giving away, but we saw lots of glass, jewelry, carvings, handmade clothes, and fish-themed items, plus we saw the actual salmon swimming and jumping at the dam.
It was a Pokemon Community Day, so I caught a bunch of Sewaddles, including many shinies, at the festival and afterward. In the evening we caught up on the two episodes of Agatha All Along that we missed while we were in Ireland, around the University of Washington-University of Michigan game which was very close until the Huskies ran away with it at the end of the fourth quarter, and there was much local rejoicing. Now we're catching up on the Only Murders in the Building episodes we missed while we were away.
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