Rivers Do Not Flow Within
by Gerald Warfield
Saturday, October 29, 2011
The river does not flow
nor leaves upon its somber surface glide
but that I full within the present stand
upon its moist banks.
Though I remember tumbling rapids,
a sandy bottom,
beavers in the morning light,
they but pose for me,
billboards in time,
fossils in the strata of the mind.
Memory does not meld
one moment to the next.
To see the river flow,
the leaf upon its surface sail,
I must upon its bending banks
breathe the morning mist,
for rivers do not flow within-- the museum of the mind.
Gerald Warfield’s short story “Poly Islands” won second prize in the first quarter of the 2011 Writers of the Future contest. His humorous story “The Origin of Third Person in Paleolithic Epic Poetry” took first place this year in the nationally syndicated Grammar Girl contest. His poetry has appeared in numerous magazines including New Mythes, edited by Scott Barnes. Gerald published fifteen how-to books before turning to fiction. He is a graduate of the 2010 Odyssey Writers Workshop.
Photo Credit: Warren, Savannah Renée, photographer. “River.” © 2011.
