Background  Award-winning author and poet Sherman Alexie (b. 1966 ) was born on the Spokane Indian Reservation in the state of Washington. Salmon have long played an important role in the economic and spiritual life of Native Americans in the Washington area. The building of dams in the 20th century destroyed the population of the once plentiful salmon and the way of life of the people who depended upon them. Many of Alexie’s poems and stories deal with how the Native American community has been affected by this destruction.

SETTING A PURPOSE As you read, pay attention to the details Alexie presents about the river and salmon. How do these details show his feelings about the dams and their effects on the lives of Native Americans? I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall after an Indian woman puts her shoulder to the Grand Coulee Dam[1] and topples it. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall after the floodwaters burst each successive dam downriver from the Grand Coulee. I am told by many of you that I must forgive and so I shall after the floodwaters find their way to the mouth of the Columbia River as it enters the Pacific and causes all of it to rise. I am told by many of you that I must forgive

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