KLAMATH RESURRECTION

by Pepper Trail

The Largest Dam Removal Project in U.S. History Begins Final Stretch, Welcoming Salmon Home. After being impeded by dams for more than a century, the Klamath River will be restored to its historic channel this year. —Smithsonian, January 22, 2024. Photo above by Pepper Trail.

When the dams rose, the river did not die
But lost its body, became spirit
Haunting the slackwater depths of the lake
Invisible beneath the dull skin of surface
For those long years, suspended, adrift
It awaited the touch of resurrection
The returning salmon, barred behind a locked door
While a new rabble stirred the helpless warmth
Bullhead and perch and pumpkinseed
Soft-bellied and sleepy in the stillness
 
Now, just now, the iron gates broken
The river is gasping back to life
Moving again time-withered muscles
Reaching blind careful fingers
Retracing its path through the canyon of mud
Remembering, curve by curve, its body
Its purpose, to move without stopping
To dance with the shapes of the land
To keep its ancient promise
To welcome the salmon, and meet the sea

Pepper Trail is a poet and naturalist based in Ashland, Oregon. His poetry has appeared in Rattle, Atlanta Review, Spillway, Kyoto Journal, Cascadia Review, and other publications, and has been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net awards. His collection Cascade-Siskiyou was a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book Award in Poetry.

PROFESSOR BULLHEAD AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY

by Peter Neil Carroll

He was soft-spoken, it seemed

when we first me, this son of

the Osage nation, introduced 

to me by a mentor we shared.

 

They were drinking Bourbon

at the hotel bar, headquarters

of the annual historical convention

at Chicago’s posh Palmer House.

 

Bullhead was about 30, though his

smooth skin may have made him look

younger. He knew a lot more history

than I did, but he was still seeking a job.

 

We met again a few years later, young

instructors, similar interests, but he was

still untenured looking for a safe niche.

He told me he had a plan to get promoted.

 

After the usual delays, he presented his plan

to the giants of our profession. Why not,

he asked, offer a course on Native American

history equivalent to ancient or medieval history?

 

Insults began before he finished. Dumb idea.

Worthless. How could Indians who spoke  

Algonquin be compared to Cicero or Duns Scotus?

Besides, a new course would reduce enrollments.

 

Bullhead interrupted the outrage and withdrew

his proposal, walked quietly to the door, then

slammed it shut like a blast of an atom bomb.

No one ever changed their minds, spoke regrets. 

Peter Neil Carroll is currently Poetry Moderator of Portside.org. His latest collection of poetry is Something is Bound to Break (Main Street Rag Press). Earlier titles include Fracking Dakota and A Child Turns Back to Wave which won the Prize Americana. His poems have appeared in many print and online journals, recently in Cultural Weekly, Freshwater Poetry, Plainsongs, and BigCityLit.