Riverside

I breathe in the fresh air

hugged between mountains

It's like I've always belonged here

amongst spring water fountains

nestled into a world that's

below bigger things…

but full of wonder just the same.

the river here knows my name.

my toes have grown up

wadding in her babbling,

counting the crows

on the pole wires gabbing…

they're still holding grudges

from the neighbor who ran them off with a broom.

You could count my life

by the rings in the young trees

that fell the year that the storms came

and cleared away everything.

they threatened to damn her

and I thought I was lost

and the river would never return.

But everything settled back

into the clay

the way that the earth does

after everything shakes

and I sat in the sun on her banks

and just laid in the dirt

marveling at what life is

and isn't

worth

________________ POET'S NOTE________________

This poem is an ode to the amazing, resilient, and wonderful people of Western North Carolina who are still recovering from the impacts of Hurricane Helene.