2026, Day Book, Ohio River Valley Literature, Poet's Life, poetry, prose, the no-scape, winter

Daybook 2026 // Winter 2.3.26

“Footprints” Doodle by Mick Parsons

She looks out the window and spits out the word ‘melt,’ the worst curse she can think of against a layer of ice and snow that will not relent. In milder winters, it was that the mosquitoes didn’t die and the backyard mud carried in by the dogs. We have dug out of this mild inconvenience as best we can. I put my faith in her curses more than the snow plow that never touches our street. There are tales of an old International Harvester with a snow plow and an engine that does not die, but code enforcement actively silences these rumors. But waiting for spring is still considered a carnal act of rebellion.

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2023, Easter, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, Poetry Month 2023, river life, Working Class Literature

Day 99, 2023

driftwood enough
to crucify a thousand christs

mud to bury them three times over

me

what remains

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2023, Ohio River Valley Literature, river life, the no-scape, work

Day 54, 2023

with the river back in its bed
we return the left behind mud
to the waters, aware of the risk
of unwanted gifts

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