"Prodigal Sockeye"
By Matt Smythe
We back across the river to give a big sow her space.
The fifty yards we offer is barely a few muscular bounds away.
She could care less about us, we know, until we impose.
43,000 of her kind gather in Katmai’s bosom.
Sockeye scatter in cloud bursts from my feet.
Red and green divinity
by the thousands in cold current.
Prodigal sockeye home from exile. Each fish an exponent.
Loaves and fishes echo from childhood Sunday school.
A communion of body and blood.
Boundless pounds of flesh each day
from one congregation, tithed to another.
We bear silent witness. Sudden believers.
Winter will come and this return will somehow be enough.
As it was and ever shall be.
Matt Smythe from the Finger Lakes region of western New York. An Army veteran and lifelong outdoorsman, Matt suffers from an inability to sit still. If he’s not in the woods, or on the water, he’s scheming ways to get there. His work has appeared in Free Range American, Gray’s Sporting Journal, the Fly Fish Journal, The Drake, Southern Culture on the Fly, Revive, Midcurrent, TROUT Magazine, and a handful of other non-outdoors-related magazines and literary journals. He recently published a book of poetry with Dead Reckoning Collective titled Revision of a Man.
Follow Matt’s blog, Glorious Mayhem here.
What’s happening at VetRep…
VetRep is a finalist in the theater class for Hudson Valley Magazine’s “Best of Hudson Valley 2024”! The elimination ballot is live for the next round, so follow this link and vote for Veterans Repertory Theater!
Listen to our latest episode with Mitchel Coffman on the Savage Wonder Podcast, where we interview incredibly talented musicians, artists, writers, and theater professionals, who also happen to be veterans.
The parlor is back! Our first show of the season titled “Dunkirk…and Other Surprises” is a feature of seven veteran authored 10-minute plays. Join us for an evening of both drama and comedies, accompanied by dessert and a refreshing mocktail! Seating is limited and shows sell out fast, so get your tickets now and make sure you have a front-row seat with us on April 6th. Get your tickets here.