by Pepper Trail
The Largest Dam Removal Project in U.S. History Begins Final Stretch, Welcoming Salmon Home. After being impeded by dams for more than a century, the Klamath River will be restored to its historic channel this year. —Smithsonian, January 22, 2024. Photo above by Pepper Trail.
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When the dams rose, the river did not die But lost its body, became spirit Haunting the slackwater depths of the lake Invisible beneath the dull skin of surface For those long years, suspended, adrift It awaited the touch of resurrection The returning salmon, barred behind a locked door While a new rabble stirred the helpless warmth Bullhead and perch and pumpkinseed Soft-bellied and sleepy in the stillness Now, just now, the iron gates broken The river is gasping back to life Moving again time-withered muscles Reaching blind careful fingers Retracing its path through the canyon of mud Remembering, curve by curve, its body Its purpose, to move without stopping To dance with the shapes of the land To keep its ancient promise To welcome the salmon, and meet the sea
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Pepper Trail is a poet and naturalist based in Ashland, Oregon. His poetry has appeared in Rattle, Atlanta Review, Spillway, Kyoto Journal, Cascadia Review, and other publications, and has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net awards. His collection Cascade-Siskiyou was a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book Award in Poetry.
Salient news ... the universe must be inhaling and exhaling slowly, assuredly ...