Early Water Refugee Turns 24 and Lucky

The summer he surpassed my annual salary in three months

Catching salmon off the coast of Alaska as a deck hand and skiffer

My youngest, turning 24, didn’t want money or whatever

Just for his mother and stepfather to spend his birthday present—

The customary hundred-and-eight cash transfer—and be happy together.

Get dressed up, he said, go to a nice restaurant, get well fed.

So we did—sipped Fernet at the Vic, ate too much fish, and after

Walked along the river he loves, who, like him, hails from Leadville—

Aunt Arkansas, my sister, who taught him how to raft and laugh

Regale tourists with tall tales and half-truths, a star

In his eye, on his tooth, all while scouting the safest yet daring line.

We sat under Tenderfoot a few minutes to watch her flow

At the lowest of lows without him, early water refugee,

So I could write this and watch two boys place a lizard on a boulder

Near the river and save it when it ran into the current.