follows the river as it bends
along the valley floor,
going the way it must.
Where water goes, so goes the road,
if there’s room (not in a ravine,
gorge), the river
on your right or left. Left is better: when you’re driving,
it’s over your elbow across
the road.
You see the current, which is
what the river is: the river
in the river, a thing sliding fast forward
inside a thing sliding not so fast forward.
Driving with, beside, the river’s flow is good.
Another pleasure, driving against it: it’s the same river
someone else will see
somewhere else downstream — same play,
new theater, different set.
Wide, shallow, fairly fast,
roundy-stone streambed, rocky-land river,
it turns there or here — the ground
telling it so — draining dull
mountains to the north,
migrating, feeding a few hard-fleshed fish
who live in it. One small sandbar splits
the river, then it loops left,
the road right, and the river’s silver
slips under the trees,
into the forest,
and over the sharp perpendicular
edge of the earth.
(Thomas Lux)
More Poetry from Thomas Lux:
Thomas Lux Poems based on Topics: Driving, Pleasure, Nature, Movies, Performance Arts- Virgule (Thomas Lux Poems)
- Motel Seedy (Thomas Lux Poems)
- Unlike, For Example, The Sound Of A Riptooth Saw (Thomas Lux Poems)
- Marine Snow At Mid-Depths And Down (Thomas Lux Poems)
- He Has Lived In Many Houses (Thomas Lux Poems)
- Refrigerator, 1957 (Thomas Lux Poems)
Readers Who Like This Poem Also Like:
Based on Topics: Nature Poems, Pleasure Poems, Movies Poems, Performance Arts Poems, Driving PoemsBased on Keywords: elbow, gorge, splits, draining, ravine, perpendicular, loops, migrating, downstream, sandbar