2000 Poetry Contest - Honorable Mention

Life Cycles
by Rebecca Robbins (Dunlin)

One hundred yards from the office park
salmon crowd their ancestors’ stream,
as angry autumn red as maple leaves
fighting to cheat the frost.

Suits on the bridge
laugh and point to see
piscine teeth tear scales
and each other’s borrowed time.

Nearby on the bank
blackened corpses of yearmates
softly decay; their faded tails
swaying in cold currents

while downwind
of the cannery stink,
an office drone practices tai chi
in his sunny parking lot.

2000 Contest Page - Contests Page - Poetry Page - Callahan's Saloon