Looking hardly nineteen,
the Army Corps of Engineers guide
immediately directs me to a screen:
"That's our live fish-cam
showing all the fish swimming
up and down the ladders."
I don't see any fish through the murk,
don't even see the ladders
they supposedly navigate,
but before I open my mouth, he adds,
"This time of year they slow to a trickle.
Hundreds pass daily in spring.
Don't know how those guys count them."
The one-room Visitor's Center
displays placards proclaiming
the Dam's benefits:
"The bountiful water supply
provides an endless source
of power without pollution."
(We once thought the supply
of salmon would be endless.)
Furthermore, "Studies show
fish now swim past the dams
as successfully as they swim
through comparable undammed rivers."
I copy this in a notebook,
think I will now beware
all sentences that include the phrase
"Studies show."
