Psalmon

So already, a sentence in a recent Boston Globe article about varieties of salmon and their relative tastiness, taken out of that context, suggested a whole other possibility. What if salmon could forgive people not just for the transgression of over-cooking? And so, in National Poetry Month, a poetic offering--and I mean offering, not sacrifice:


“Because of its fat content, fresh salmon is forgiving.”**    

I read that in the morning news--

Quick changed my clothes, put on my shoes:

If salmon had true pardon power,

Best to the fish store that same hour.

Once there, and walking towards the counter,

I eyed cod and then eyed flounder.

But I’d just read “All fat is the Lord’s”***:

Ancient words had struck new chords.

Frankly, I was sore distraught—

‘Til I spied salmon, wild-caught,

Plucked, then shipped from the Bering Strait:

I’d have the chance to clean my slate!

There it lay, boned and filleted,

Coral slabs in layers displayed.

Fat-flecked flesh, arranged on ice,

Recalled to me old sacrifice

Consumed in flame, and not just grilled,

For that was what the gods then willed.

The slick fillets were oil-anointed**:

I doubted I’d be disappointed.

But the counter man, so young—so lean—

Corporally, could he my need to glean?

He wrapped my salmon tight so fast

I feared that it could not full cast

Its eye upon me, take me in,

Gauge my guilt, and sense my sin—

And then by virtue of its fat,

Say softly, “You’re forgiven that.”

But faith trumped doubt; I went home shrove

And plopped my salmon on the stove,

And grilling it, released its savor—

Heaven-scent is what gods favor.

Oh Alpha and Omega-3,

For sure, who made the Lamb made thee.

To best serve God and eschew mammon,

I’ll serve and chew great stores of salmon.

* “Salmon is confusing. So we looked into it — and tasted different varieties. Boston Globe. Retrieved April 9, 2019, from https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/food-dining/2019/03/11/buying-salmon-confusing-decided-look-into-and-then-taste-different-varieties/S3EmRVf6hIMkxLuoFIxZ1O/story.html

** Photo accompanying above Boston Globe Article by Food styling/Sheryl Julian; Sally Pasley Vargas for the Boston Globe.

*** Leviticus 3:16