Rocky River, High Water

Rocky River, High Water

When I awake the first thing I hear is the river

roaring over the rocks above the bend.

The rocky river

never silenced at the highest water,

washing down for garden beds wood eroded from the Veazie Mill

washing up bricks and riverrock stepping stones

aerating, cleansing itself

flushing chemicals to the sea blue black white

creator provider destroyer, its pure

conversation rhythms indistinguishable from noise.

Spring cormorant river dark gray birds

flying and fishing their way upstream in threes and fours

day after day.

Summer song sparrow trilling

so loud

as to almost drown the river out

osprey fish dive

eagles in their spy tree

all these silences of the roaring river.

Two rivers: artery pulsing out furs and timber

vein sucking blood inward toward the heart

alcohol guns smallpox

Atmosphere ghost-humid:

moose, deer, porcupines, Pαnawάhpskewi, mill girls, port girls

river-lured

momentary flicker at the top of the stairs.

Always something wrong but

what can straighten out water?

Embraced by fish nets,

street grids, spider webs,

thoughts, plans, prayers

caught measured by mathematicians

dams pure resistance now gone

salmon follow cormorant conduit

bucking the current of easy living.

Walking up Pump House Road from the old dam site

sandpiper

proceeding ahead of me through the woods

where rain has made rivulets in the dirt road.

Hey there, what are you doing back here in the woods?

At every step it bobs its butt

slowly twerking to unheard music

and now roadside grass rustling.

What's that?

Another bird, fluffy twerking too its chick.

Pecking and bobbing uphill downstream

flowing in parallel channel

shoreline haunts submerged.

At night the last thing I hear is the river's hissing monotone music

flooding the swimming holes, washing seaward

all but the ghosts

sweeping off ego superego and id language culture nature itself

not by water but by water's voice its spirit.

“Do you hear it” said Xuansha, “the sound of the roaring river?

Enter there.”

Into what?