Communion

Greg Parker's poem "Communion" was a Finalist of Temple University's 2019 Short Fiction Contest.

They find home in open water

The salmon
They do

Chum, sockeye, king, silver, pink
Chum, sockeye, king, silver, pink
Chum, sockeye, king, silver, pink

Swimming downstream
on currents of newfound freedom

In open water, they be
In open water, they find self

do you think they know it is not infinite?

That on a Wednesday afternoon
God will whisper his command down the Pacific coast

Numbering in the millions
They will race onward to their genesis

Towards visions of their past
Sunlight catching on the surface of rushing water
And it is all they have ever known

Year after year

Chum, sockeye, king, silver, pink
Chum, sockeye, king, silver, pink
Chum, sockeye, king, silver, pink

Not because they want to
But because it is all they know

And drawn upstream by whatever calls them to find home
They return to the riverbeds of their youth

1