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West Side Poetry Writing Workshop
Thursday, May 27, 6:30PM
Virtual
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travelling to my never was,
my yearly time in the yard
spring time back to cold Ohio
gripped in nonsense and melancholy
I travel to old town
misted by the cuyahoga
surprised yet not I find
they tore down the tottered house
tar paper and clapboard
hoary hand pump out front
jutting out of upturned earth
like an oxidized finger accusing
at broken chimney
collapsed walls
19th century brickwork sharded
toppeled into fetid basins
the neighborhood's harshbitten scar
open wounded by the treelawn
old man who once lived there
trapped in darkness and exile
haunts it no longer
memory freed
by oiled machinery and progress
rooftop split
like broken amphora
scattered on the seabed
and so floats my enmity
thermal up and away
updraft and ashes
drift'n bulldozed and scaffold
dissipating on warmer breezes
as if it never was...
Cuyahoga
Slow moving tepid pools
Fish leap to catch their meals
Birds dive to catch the fish
Rapids filled with children flow down river
White water where people play
Rocks the size of small buildings line your shore
Caves and caverns echo your heartbeat
They look down into a valley millions of years old
The floor of an ocean that covered the world
Ancient natives worshipped your power
Praying to you for what you could provide
Their homes can still be seen in the cliffs
Below homes made of wood, brick and glass
Drawings of the deer who drank on your shore
Char of fires that cooked the food you provided still marks the ceilings
Those ancient peoples are long gone
People still ply your water
Some for relaxation
Some for sport
Others, pairs of people float your currents to find love
It is not your beauty
It is not your history that you will be known by
You will be eternally known by what man has done to you
His poisons gave you your name
You will be known only as the river whose waters caught fire
Until someone, anyone remembers what you have to offer
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.