–inspired by John Branch, “Tracing a River that Was Freed After a Century,” NYT

Dammed by the arrival of
beaver trappers,
gold miners and timber harvesters,
farmers and ranchers,
the river was strangled
by 400 vertical feet of water stoppers
and lake makers.

Not until tens of thousands 
of dead salmon and trout washed up
on the lower banks of the river
did the dam-removal movement
gain momentum and the power brokers
pay attention. The sacred fish reappeared
days after the last dam fell.

This month some 30 Indigenous teenagers–
whose ancestors could cross
the Klamath on the backs of salmon–
embarked in kayaks on the 310-mile
First Descent to the Pacific Ocean, 
singing a water song to celebrate
the return of their living relative.
Elders blessed the expedition
by burning root of wild celery
and the feathers of a hawk.

The shoreline of lakes have faded
as the river has found its old course.
Now the water that carved the canyons runs wild again.
The young kayakers are naming the rapids.
They are paddling on riffling currents, 
passing salmon swimming upstream.
With the journey to the ocean, 
all their relatives will be newly connected.
Water has memory, the tribal elders say.