Rush salmon trek in weiry climes,
a homeland search to fry their eggs,
sunny-side up, with rainbow trout,
climbing the thunder falling waves,
these fliers breaking subterrain,
an over-bearing siren call.
Oilskins stripped claws and waiting jaws,
distracted, others leap unpaused,
the spawning, overwhelming cause,
though death above alevin redds.
Instinct impels, propels, this charge,
high water kamikaze gods.
Stephen Kingsnorth (Cambridge M.A., English & Religious Studies), retired to Wales from ministry in the Methodist Church, has had over 160 pieces published by on-line poetry sites, including Poetry Potion, printed journals and anthologies. https://poetrykingsnorth.wordpress.com/