Poems by Carmen Germain

Cyanide

by Carmen Germain

Carmen lives in a river valley on the Olympic Peninsula, the traditional lands of the Salish Sea Indigenous people.

A stonefly’s a good omen in water
But a stonefly won’t abide where it’s dead
Water. Sturdy black legs, gold-black

Body, sunset-orange on its wayward head,
How it greeted me on a trail, dust in its gills.
If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him—

Don’t clutch him as a god. Open yourself
To understanding all things. Like the Alamosa
With no soul left, flowing on red-scum gravel.

No rainbow trout flashing shallows where living
Is easiest, no gold eagles sailing thermals.
No spring hatch, no caddis, no golden stoneflies.