Interview with a spawning salmon on the kagawong river
tourists snap
photos
to the rhythm of gaping mouth
seagulls hopping rock to rock
we return to this
claimed territory
some compare gasping mouth
the sudden force flipping tail
to the plight of a minor god
but my flesh is already soft
my carcass i will soon be
orange at the edges
my bones will
become a curved arch
question on river rocks
I prefer the quiet twilight dark night
when all that is heard
is the river splashing tails
a seagull swallows my rotting river
eye
and laughs
Nina Jane Drystek on Sophie Anne Edwards’ “Interview with a spawning salmon on the kagawong river”
Every time I read “Interview with a spawning salmon on the kagawong river” I find new surprises and ways of reading the poem. The structure of the poem allows it to be read in several different ways, which questions how we personify creatures and how they might see the world. The first column keeps the reader grounded while the right columns remind us about the fluidity of the creature.
sophie anne edwards walks and creates site-specific and responsive poetry on Mnidoo Mnising (Manitoulin Island). Her work has been published in a number of print and online publications. Her poems also appear in the bush for a mostly biotic readership.