Elegy for the Caught Fish
I
Over the Salem highway flies
A bald eagle carrying a fish like a weed out of the Willamette.
We totem our empires with the raptor,
weave into flags, fix on coins
but what of the victims?
How come no one ever glories the fish
for fighting its way from the ocean
and then giving itself up
so that eagle chicks can grow?
We are all too busy dreaming the eagle,
afraid to admit that in life
we are more often the fish.
II
At Suttle Lake two osprey hang on winds,
suspended W’s questioning the timing
of the sockeye’s surge from the Pacific
Via the Columbia, Metolius, Subtle creek.
A bald eagle joins in the salivating search,
the white tail of false truce flying.
I wish them all failure for I am now
with the fish, that fighter, finder of fortune
in the gravel and grains of shallow water.
All that effort deserves more than death
in sudden claws before being spawn-weary
and purpose-filled, empty of any need.
Matthew James Friday is a British born writer and teacher. He has had many poems published in US and international journals. His first chapbook The Residents is due to be published by Finishing Line Press in summer 2024. He has published numerous micro-chapbooks with the Origami Poems Project. Matthew is a Pushcart Prize nominated poet. Visit his website at matthewfriday.weebly.com