A Salmon's Journey

are
driven
from our
pebble-encased
birthplace like cattle from
high green pastures—we are herded
through the gabled gates to indefinite
independence. Pushed and pulled, dragged along
by the current so incessantly strong. Never may we return again.
Our final journey to adulthood fraught with thrill and peril. "Away!"
she screams, "Away!" Alone now we swim. No contact with each other.
What to eat? Where to go? "Follow the river," Mother's sweet voice reminds me.
But she is gone like a ripple on the river. I swim past creatures of undulating power.
They come with cranes: droning, shiny, metal monsters ripping through my river banks
like the bear's teeth shreds its prey, filling my home with filth and debris,
clogging my throat with fatal fumes. Down I swim! Down!
What has happened to my abode?
I dart along the estuaries
through which I must pass.
Finally I break free
into the daunting sea.
Fervently I swim through the waves.
Tumbling down like freshly fallen rocks from a gorge.
Now I am free.
I am home.

---

AJ Slepian, age 13
2008 Finalist
El Dorado Hills, California
Marina Middle School
Teacher: Diane Dunnigan