2024, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life, sonnet, waterfront, work

all schematics are no match for eternal enigmatic devices

rain hammers against concrete and wood
distant leaves hang on until the wind wins
the seasonal tug-of-war
let the Mary Miller’s  lines go
catch them again
walk the Belle decks
whisper to the boiler and pumps
sharing our stories of the past season
the cityscape looms starboard
its light erasing the stars
the wharf grows into an endless plain

and out the portside
the river stretches wide arms
to everywhere

Standard
2024, Ohio River Valley Literature, Poet's Life, poetry

the wonder of cold coffee of an indeterminate age

late morning coffee:
trying to incorporate a rhythm
like home hums

away from the river
this grace, her soft and warm
against me last night

today the music plays
the dogs sleep and me
in a dream between dreams

Standard
2024, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life

from ‘the river north to South Point’ poem 4

I woke up one morning a bit of a grizzly old man
wearing four days of beard
hiding unruly hair under a ball cap
looking for river haints,  adoring me moon
turning my back on reflections
uncut by river currents

Standard