Sunday in the Smokehouse – a poem by Nathaniel Cairney

Sunday in the Smokehouse

So this is what it is to cure salmon
in a salt-stained cabin that French mothers 
built on the shore of an inlet between 
two mountains, three generations before
that small white house was raised on a cliff's edge
to face any terror the Atlantic 
might bring. The curing woman stokes the fire.
She says that a certain honor comes from 
enduring the violence of a force
with no intention to punish, and that 
the brine in our bodies sings the same song
as the ocean, moment after moment,
wave after wave – every breath is a prayer,
and what comes after is a prayer answered.

Nathaniel Cairney is an American poet who lives in Belgium. His chapbook Leaving the Oldest House was selected as a highly commended finalist for the 2025 International Book & Pamphlet Competition, one of the UK’s oldest poetry contests. His poems have been published in New Writing Scotland, Cardiff Review, Midwest Review, Moria and many other literary journals.