Hello everybody! Today I’m sharing my poem “The Lake Sturgeon” which is included in the latest issue of The Dunes Review. Enjoy!
The Lake Sturgeon
we stumbled upon the sturgeon release
on the Boardman-Ottaway
and my moth-eaten ribbon skirt
caught tears of resiliency
they say a female nmé can live 150 years,
a male 80, and there’s hundreds
of young fish in red plastic buckets
impatient for open water, yearning to mature
an elder sings a medicine song
to guide them along and upriver
an earth drum directs the flow
of rebalance, of rejuvenation
I watch him swim a silent prayer
for my people to always remember
the currents that connect us,
the streams, like us, that are still here
Thistle Thoughts 
Amazing, Jennifer. There’s a salmon run here in Taylor Creek in September/October. Watching mother nature do her thing is so incredible. The medicine man reminds me of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, with the American Indians (Snoquamish?) up on the scaffolding over the falls, catching fish for their families to live on.
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Great book & movie! It was a very cool thing to just randomly stumble upon on a walk.
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Brilliant, as usual, Jenn. I like how you draw your heritage into your more recent pieces (say, the past year or so).
Congrats on the inclusion of your piece. ❤
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Thanks! I think being back in the homeland makes me feel more connected.
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And I think that’s a good thing 🙂
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Very nice work, Jenn! I’m also loving that you did not end your poem with a period. The period’s absence is like (or is) a sign of the streams continuing or still being here
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I’m very glad you enjoyed!
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A beautiful and touching poem Jennifer! Congratulations!
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Thank you!
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Congratulations, Jennifer. A beautiful poem.
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Thank you, Britta!
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your poem carries such a quiet, powerful strength, and the imagery feels both sacred and personal.
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Thank you so much 🙂 I appreciate you reading.
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this is so moving in a gentle way – literally and metaphorically – I love it! Linda xx
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Thank you!
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super welcome, L xx
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The ribbon skirt imagery is such an original and stirring picture, arresting from the first stanza.
Aroha nui,
Tash
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Thank you, Tash. I have a very clear memory of this day & I like how it’s kind of immortalized because I wrote a poem about it.
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