where the Minnesota encounters
the Mississippi their flows remain
separate for a time. even more so
with the Ohio, blue water trying for miles
to demand its own space against brown, then
braiding until confluence is complete.
does one river belong
to you? whose damage do you
claim? tradition says: toss a coin
into that spot the two currents first
meet, your wish will come true. your
wish: cover crops, buffer strips, bubble-
curtains, windmills pawing the sky, no pipes
spitting manure into the river. your wish: none of it
left to chance/one coin finding the perfect
co-ordinates/instead a cross of laws, love, money.
This poem first appeared in Land Stewardship Letter (2017).
—
Suzanne Swanson is a retired perinatal psychologist and author of House of Music and What Other Worlds: Postpartum Poems. Winner of the Loft Mentor Series, Suzanne helped to found Laurel Poetry Collective. Recent poems have appeared in EcoTheo Review, Terrain.org, The Hopper and West Trade Review. In 2022, she co-edited the chapbook, All You Need Is One Avocado. Her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Suzanne is happiest near big water.
