Gush - Noaa Rienecker
Often my spirits rise
as a river in an urban passage
after a thick dark rain,
swelling and quickening,
even rushing and chopping,
threatening to swallow
the flora on either bank,
or flood the homes
of small animals.
Soon the threat is no more,
I am overwhelming
shoreline footpaths, dams,
and other boundaries,
carefully established
and maintained
by the commonwealth.
I’ll notice eventually
that I’ve lapped up
onto the road
when someone’s tire slips
and the screaming brakes
herald a shattering splintersong,
but by the first note
of that prelude,
It’s already too late.
As I recede bashfully,
I take used band-aids
and potato chip bags
down with me from the street,
revealing ruined gardens
and shorted electronics,
and I see they’re already
mixing fresh cement
to pile on the levees.
as a river in an urban passage
after a thick dark rain,
swelling and quickening,
even rushing and chopping,
threatening to swallow
the flora on either bank,
or flood the homes
of small animals.
Soon the threat is no more,
I am overwhelming
shoreline footpaths, dams,
and other boundaries,
carefully established
and maintained
by the commonwealth.
I’ll notice eventually
that I’ve lapped up
onto the road
when someone’s tire slips
and the screaming brakes
herald a shattering splintersong,
but by the first note
of that prelude,
It’s already too late.
As I recede bashfully,
I take used band-aids
and potato chip bags
down with me from the street,
revealing ruined gardens
and shorted electronics,
and I see they’re already
mixing fresh cement
to pile on the levees.