All Upon a River Shore

White birds like bleached crows

Ride cow backs in this place

Visible from the river

Wild turkeys in single school boy file

Amble in the gravel, the gravel beach

On the slow side of the water

Iridescent reptiles bask in river sun

Women, golden skinned, smiles like moon sliver

Watch and bathe in glassy gliding water

“How may I reach this spot,

What road, which highway, which turning?

And I look at him and weep

Only from the river

Only from the river

Can these places be found.

Reviews

[h d e rushin]

when John Lee Hooker yelled "Boom, boom, boom, boom" you never once thought of anything but the
Mississippi Delta. The reason being, why would a person born in the city say a thing such as that.
You may as well have written Trussville, Alabama in distemper where the landscape and the
rivers edge prepares it's own ground for painting. And any poem titled "All Upon a River Shore"
is an invitation to something extremely careful and water fed.

Here you show your tremendous skill as a poet. Not short or long, not far off or spatial,
just the many relationships of 'right now'//well done...dana

[Delmar Cooper]

With the exception of a single word uttered to me forty years ago this is perhaps the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.

[Brittany Zedalis]

This reminded me of a river I live nearby, almost perfectly.

[Delmar Cooper]

Something kinda wonderful about water and when you get it all going in one direction like a river, well that's special.

[CD Campbell]

Nice Imagery! I like the flow of each scene and then being able to see it all at once. How I see it anyway. The question at the end? Sorrowful. Not being able to see these scenes at anytime triggering loss? Anyway, thanks. Keep in touch. CD

[Delmar Cooper]

Didn't mean to include any downers in the piece. My experience with rivers is that you can't see them truly unless you are in them, and once in the river the shore becomes a differ world. I guess you can't really see the river from the bridge but you will see every bridge from the river.

[Matching Socks]

The vision of Golden skinned women bathing in the water while reptiles bask in the sun is so enchanting.
This poem is magic.

[Delmar Cooper]

Thanks for reading and your kind comment.

[Matching Socks]

You're welcome. :)

[Chris]

A Norman Rockwell image of what some would deem past and yet is a very real present

[Delmar Cooper]

Oh yeah it's all there just around the next bend.

[Chris]

depends on which backwater you travel...

[Einstein Noodle]

creative and engrossing .. lots to ponder .. bleached crows ride cow backs .. love it! .. your poem sets my mood to drifting and dreaming
E.

[W.k.kortas]

The manner in which this piece slowly meanders from the concrete (and the first seven lines of the piece are wonderfully visual and pitch-perfect in description) to the ethereal, and indeed borderline mystical, is just a joy to behold. It's been too long since you've posted, but boy howdy, is this worth the wait.