2024, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry

Two coffee suite from “Wharf Feng Shui”

1.                    

a benediction on the wharf

one of those yesterday’s cold coffee mornings
after an autumn rain, on the edge of the solstice
rolling a day of tugs and trains and 18-wheel trucks
the quiet near overrun in the echo of sirens

2.

these prayers and a communion of coffee

maintaining the end at the edge of the world
is a sacrifice of diesel sweat and blood
and winters of waiting – walking the wharf
is a meditation, a prayer, a vigil
in anticipation of high water and fog


[from upcoming Watchman’s Journal installment: “Wharf Fung Shui”]

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2024, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life

dry socks make the man


revel in the mild night
a sense of rain riding the air
too cool to be spring
the post-commute traffic washes by
this spot I stand, still grateful for dry boots


[from upcoming Watchman’s Journal installment: “Wharf Fung Shui”]

Mile Post 604
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2024, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life

and some are tied off for that stretch of a moment

bitter cold, the north wind
kick up the river, rocks the wharf boat:
there is comfort in knowing
we’re all just floating

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