I have known the drenching heat
Deep in clay-rich soil’s cracks
And fissures, the squeaking mice
Starving in their fallow fields, the bald-head
Vultures circling desiccated streambeds
To feast on bloated, popping bluegill.
I have known the quoggy springs,
The hungry mud gobbling boots,
And trees uprooted, swept away,
The world a river, the end downstream,
And all, all adrift in the swell
