Evolve/Devolve
Current swollen, rushing, amniotic
Carry downstream over rocks and roots.
With springtime glacier melt, bank breaching.
Cries of loons as the cutthroats jump.
Lacking paddle, upstream swimming
Habit-formed fight, bereft of control
Limbs burning under freezing foam
Before letting go to avoid going under.
Free-floating, like falling sideways
Through mossy shores and windswept boughs.
Uncharted wilds that stir with life:
Whitetail hoof beats, grizzly’s paw print.
Current-carried, is this my destination?
Do I climb out and shake like a wolf in the sun,
Or float a little longer hoping for a better view
And let the river carry me, perhaps to the sea?
Devolving in the delta, grow fins and gills.
Submerge and fill my lungs, dark and cool.
Into the mysterious briny deep swim faster
Iridescent tail fluke the last thing you see.
© Stacie Ferrante
5-6-09
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