Pam Sinicrope

FLARE WITH SALMON

Pain comes to visit, then it goes—
I ride the storm with dreams of fish,
salmon swirling against the flow

slickened with butter on an empty dish—
they leap and slap, but muscle through.
Pain comes to visit, but then it goes

as I nook into an eddy
neither daunted nor disheartened—
salmon swirl against the flow.

They slalom and spiral side to side,
an epic struggle to find a way—
pain comes to visit, but then it goes

deep into a twisting abyss—
I search for pathways to resist
like salmon swirling against the flow

or a sailboat tacking upwind,
zigging and zagging— time moves slow.
Pain comes to visit, then it goes—
salmon swirling against the flow.