(Poem) Command, O Mistress! by Jillian Parker aka Flame in the Snow

Swift her strokes in dizzy
rumble ramble burning
scarlet gulps she glides

crimson Flicker-Tail

no net has gained a purchase
no wall could bar her from her
destination

no words have ever marred
her murmurs to the moon

like red hair that skips a generation
like a royal-blue poppy sprouting along the highway
like long-lost notes to a Requiem

she waits

flip-flopping alone in a shallow canal,
she’s spent her seed
till nothing’s left
but a throbbing center

those lazy breadcrumb-munching mallards don’t care,
they’re watching a grey gull preen himself

then,
trembling-frail,
perched on a rusting shopping cart,
Salmon Woman nods

and the spindle-legged white crane turns
step-dancing, bends and tears out her heart

and
together they ascend

a single silhouette
into
a smog-scented
sunrise.

 

Salmon_1
Sacramento Fall-run Chinook Salmon
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association
http://www.noaa.gov/iea/regions/california-current-region/action/sacramento-river-fall-run-chinook-salmon.html

(Meet Mago Contributor) Jillian Parker.

 


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2 thoughts on “(Poem) Command, O Mistress! by Jillian Parker aka Flame in the Snow”

  1. I appreciate anyone taking the time to read this. It was written after I saw a single spawning salmon in a canal near the Sacramento River. The salmon population in that river is now endangered, after being one of the premium places to find huge salmon.

    1. Reading anything you write, Jillian, is a gift to the soul and mind. Thank you for sharing your magic.

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