<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">How Much</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Low stream flows, deceptively gentle</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">incubate fish eggs, keep them safe,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">while storms would sweep them away</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">toward predators downstream. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Birthing salmon and steelhead, fins flinch,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">shudder in waters too calm for swimming</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">to tributaries, their birth canals. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">In the main stem, they dig up </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">each other's eggs, lay their own. Animals </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">fond of <i class="">ikura</i>, meaning <i class="">salmon eggs</i> </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and also <i class="">how much</i>, quickly feast.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Sword of storm, sword of calm hangs above. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">How often we celebrate, scoop caviar, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">lives swallowed like casual swords</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">cutting through first life.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Custom of delicate spoons, as if fearing</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">fragility of wealth, prone to slip away</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">overnight, glistening pearly ounces, as if</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">taking less dignifies the taking, as if</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">life's thrashings disappear beneath</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">glistening dishes of roe, as if</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">too much would reveal our gaze</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">deciding who survives cycles,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">dying, regenerating. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Fish ache to fly upstream like birds</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">swim through clouds like blooms</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">welcome the sun, as fawns bond</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">in faint cries to their does. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Doe and fawn graze, lie on grass,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">each blade holding its own weight. </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-style: italic; white-space: pre;"> </span><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">- Lynn Axelrod</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal; font-family: Times; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div></div></body></html>