The tide lapped over a dozen salmon, their chests heaving. Compassion bloomed in my chest. We untangled them carefully from our Tribe’s net. I whispered heartfelt prayers of gratitude. Remembering:

“Salmon come to us,” my elders taught us. “We must respect them, so they come back to us, every year.”

Fern Golden (they/them or she/hers) is a disabled Dena’ina Athabaskan artist from Alaska. Their writing navigates the confluences of culture and language, ecology and belonging, and chronic illness and healing.