IF SALMON RUN
So many fish are clearing the dams this year.
Thanks to the heavy rainfall of course
but maybe the urge for the spawning places
is riper than weariness and gravity.
Look out the window, Christine…
those silver bodies, one after the other.
Enough for fishermen, enough for bears,
enough for the embrace of watching.
And to think it's their own death
that's calling out to them.
What you and I limp toward,
they make for with such speed.
And it's the sheer numbers
that convince us this will be a good year.
Who hurts when there's salmon running?
Against the current, the good hearts soar.
* John Grey is an Australian born poet, US resident since late seventies. Works as financial systems analyst. Recently published in Slant, Briar Cliff Review and Albatross with work upcoming in Poetry East, Cape Rock and REAL.
