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August 05, 2007

Fish Ladder

I wrote this poem for Mum's birthday. It's about the fish ladder in Pitlochry, which she visited as a child and which Charlie and I visited on honeymoon.

Intuitive as Solomon Inquisitive as Sheba Potent as Samson Wily as Delilah Salmo salar coming Lithe pisces freerunning Reckless rough and Tummel-ling Parkour par excellence Jump Scotland. Fins set like flint For the Firth of Faskally Fully immersed Shundai! Mouldy and mottled Saltwater-sozzled Scaly-necked salmon Battling the torrent Scaling the ladder Hookjawed, abhorrent Hunchbacks of Pitlochry Dam! "Salman Rushing, why the fuss?" "It's just that I'm anadramous: It is my wont I must confess, To live in salt but breed in fresh. The salmon hen has made her nest Among the pebbles of Loch Ness So onwards as to war I press Iron-willed and gaping-gilled Acutely aquastressed. Our steep ascent of river-rungs Is neo-gnostic fishy-fun In thirty-four degrees of rise We flee the violent flow. The twenty-ninth is glamorous With salmon-clocks and cameras Big Breeder, Changing Chambers I'm anadramous, get me out of here! Two thousand miles of H20 Then half a mile of sloshing slope We salmon whisk and reel and risk On carousels of hope. Riding the disc of history To breed where we were born We crossed the sea With our family trees To find a spot to spawn. If you ask the ancient secret That inspires us Faskallywags It's just that dear old Mum and Dad Skedaddled here a while back. They climbed this ladder to the top And didn't ever think to stop And so we know our climb's not done: Our parents swam this way And won."

Posted by sahelsteve at August 5, 2007 11:12 PM