Water waves ripple, roll, run, propagate ceaseless flowing forever.
thoughts jump
like grasshoppers
from one idea to the next
between words,
quiet spaces
say more
than we think they do
grandma's old button box
spills memories
on my desk
yesterday walks into today
like rain
through an open window
sometimes
we forget periods
and let our breathing
make the rules
poems can break their lines
anywhere
they want to rest
words stretch
like rubber bands
sometimes they snap
and fly away
half-finished sentences
can be the most
honest ones
when we're hurt,
we pretend everything
is perfectly fine
kitchens and bedrooms
hold secrets
that make us
who we really are
looking closely at the truth
even when it makes us squirm
not yes, not no
freedom lives in the maybe
wild looks like freedom
when you've been sitting
still too long
who are you?
I'm the kid
who won't stay in the box
rivers always
know their way
flowing towards
something bigger
we are the change
we want,
each small choice
creates waves
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
peace, they say, is a dove.
here, by the river, though,
peace is the heron's slow rise,
the rustle of reeds, and
a kingfisher's sudden, sapphire dive.
no grand pronouncements,
no treaties etched in stone~
just the quiet knowing
that the river flows on, alone.
the river constantly flows,
carrying the weight, the worries,
the wanting.
In its flowing is a constant reminder~
‘let go, just let go,’
it murmurs with soft sighs,
and in those sighs,
there is a stillness, a home.
peace settles by the river, a fine silt,
on the riverbank, on my soul,
a quiet knowing, I am not alone.
Written: September 18, 2025 for contest: Sponsored by: Charles Messina
*******
River bends slow
Silver sends glow.
Don't rest!
You can't!
I know...
I know I can't rest,
rest my head on your shoulder,
cause you wouldn't understand.
Wouldn't understand this wild river I have.
It never rests.
Never rests, it flows in my head,
until it explodes.
My head explodes, from the wild river I have.
Day and night, it never stops,
it flows and flows,
until I explode.
I know, everyone has this wild river,
but never the same.
So you wouldn't understand
why I can't rest my head on your shoulder.
But oh, how I want that to feel.
Feel the love you share,
give me a lake,
the lake of peace and rest I couldn't get,
before I sink and drown myself to my death.
Everyone has it's own river, I know.
But I couldn't let you drown, like I do.
Come to me, whenever it gets dark,
rest your head on my shoulder.
I give you my lake,
my heart,
and the peace I want.
show me the sand-bags
of altruist craziness
that you pretend
and lets not intellectually
shift through
grains of the sands.
I was the one
who convinced
you
and yet I'm the delinquency
of a friend knows so safety
of the pins within the blades
I can't pull your strings estranged....
a master of this so very strange...
I won't be on the train tracks
your boyfriend has no hacks
A boy imagined a world
of wrapped strawberries
without conflict
to the puppet on a string
And you released him here......
and no further harm
to his well-being...
He was always dead
to any and no well-being
He just doesn't know it..
The cities will be dead
as we are sitting
on our so called blames
and memories of shame
Are we to blame for
any of it
as children?
an idealization
Radicalization
Vigilantism
and for here?
I will be buried
but on my own terms.
I don't comply
to a so called
America of here
A president
who we all know
a demon resides there...
I don't know you
personally,
and I never will.,
hot flushes and chills,
are less of
a voice of mediation.
You never tried with a beat
just the cliche of a country's
of lonesome and the wheat....
OF RED RIVER AGONY
In this river,
Only crocodiles can be;
Alligators, no!
This is not only nasty,
It is red reality:-
The river’s bordering banks,
Are as red steaming lava:-
But let us not be dismayed,
There is that other river;
The rain-bowed river of God—
Banked by the soil of oneness:
Let us cross over:-
A river of
redemption
waiting beyond
These shallows
of torment
and rocks devil spawned
With rapids
approaching
white water ahead
Their nature
and prophecy
fueling the dread
As speed
is increasing
its roar on the rise
The falls
of the Jordan
— to live or to die
(Snake River ‘Lunch Counter:’ September, 2020)
The river is deep.
The river is wide.
I burned every bridge.
I’m stuck on this side.
I stand on the shore.
I’m looking across
At all that I’ve left
And all those I lost.
The river’s too fast
To wade or to swim.
And night’s coming on,
The light’s getting dim.
Cannot find a boat
To row or to sail.
I’m stuck where I am,
A self-imposed jail.
I’ve lost track of time…
How long I’ve been here.
Has it been but days
Or how many years?
Each moment’s the same,
On endless repeat.
I cannot move on.
I cannot retreat.
The river cares not,
Just endlessly flows.
Its start and its end?
Well, nobody knows.
So, here I just sit,
Impatiently wait,
And wish I had known
But, now it’s too late.
Hush! The rapid river flows
Towards its destination.
I sit on the dry bank watching.
Waves shimmer a dream.
Why is she afraid of streams?
As water glides, I hear whispers.
You’ll drown, you’ll drown.
And I’ll lose you forever.
I hear the weak whisper.
Why do you fear? You’re strong.
I undress, ready to jump.
Don’t jump, she shouted hoarsely.
You’ll die. Downstream, someone died.
I tremble, dress again.
The river hisses: Coward.
I turn from its voice,
And walk back home with her,
Our hearts still echo the current.
The water-filled pitcher is settled in your waist
Walk easy, the road at the early hour is almost empty
River in the poet's eyes is watching your movement
Vocabulary from his heart is making a sketch
_______________________
9 September 2025
inevitably, she comes for us all
my lover— death, with her webbed fingers
her skin soft as a porcupine’s,
her quills darting into my chest
tears me apart in search of her craving
a smile as she gently ripped it out of my flesh
she held it out to the heavens and breathed out a cry of death
her teeth harder than diamonds, and her tongue sharper than a double edged sword
she looked at it— my heart,
aching for its taste, aching for its love
her eyes, equivalent to a million stars dying,
looked at my lips with desperation and yearning
so i pressed mine against hers just to get a taste of heroin
ecstatically fatal for even among the gods
her mouth opened and speaks with the proclamation of my demise
my love for her stronger but my body weaker,
falling— she caught me with her arms hotter than deserts
but gently lays me down against the snow covered ground
her embrace burning my flesh,
beside the river where dogs bathe,
a smile appears on my lips,
a taste for my last breath
(“The Longest Journey”, 2020, original encaustic)
All That We Dream
When George Harrison sang,
“Yesterday, today was tomorrow
And tomorrow, today will be yesterday”
He was making a simple observation
On the nature of Life as a flow
We attach our momentary labels of time.
But he could also have said this applies
To all of us simultaneously in the flow
While attaching those labels as if outside,
And that this simple shift in perspective
Is the key to liberation, at least
From the burdens of this Life’s stress and strains.
Each day we do things
And when they are done, tomorrow or the next,
We are not the same person who did them.
The beauty of this is the one planning
Is never the same as the one executing
Nor the one enjoying the result.
So plan away, aim for the stars
Take that step, take the baton
On the endless journey
The endless stream of doing
As time and being flow together
Effortlessly accomplishing all that we dream.
(9/5/25)
SERENITY'S HOME
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
river's gentle flow
soothing sounds of water's song
peaceful morning dawns
river's tranquil pool
reflecting sky's blue above
serenity's home
time is a river flowing
it lets nothing stand in its way
~ obstinately speeds in one direction
Wordku: 5-7-5 words
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Specific Types of River Poems
Definition | What is River in Poetry?
Poems Related to River
tributary, estuary, stream, run, creek, brook, rivulet, course, watercourse, branch, rill, beck, runnel,