The river that cuts a country in two
by Jeannine Marie Pitas
1.
I met a man who walked beside it every sunrise
taking pictures of lacy ice in December, red-winged
blackbirds in May, flaming leaves in October.
Those dark waves kept his cracked soul
from breaking.
2.
In the mornings I hear trains
rumble and call to me from its banks.
3.
“Does it still have fish?” a Canadian friend asked.
Though it has borne hundreds of years
of barges and pollution, the morning fishermen know
it does. Bald eagles have returned. Turtles
and otters line its tributaries. Life prevails.
4.
Some days the closest I come to faith
is knowing the river will outlast me.
5.
The first time I visited this town, I exclaimed,
“I’ve never seen the Mississippi River before!”
“Do you want to dip your toe in?” my future colleague asked,
our laughter drawing spirals of white condensation
in the December air.
6.
When I moved here, I insisted on living
A ten-minute walk from the blue.
7.
One month after we met, we walked beside it on a warm
August night, talking about books. When we saw the green
light on the bridge, we both exclaimed, “The Great Gatsby!”
We looked at each other, laughing, taking each other’s hands, certain
we’d be lifelong friends.
8.
I’ve lost her now
but I still have the river.
9.
There’s a plan to build a pipeline under
its waves, to pump tar sands oil from prairies
into lakes. Original dwellers struggle to stop this.
Many join them, crying necessity. It’s okay to ignore
a “no trespassing” sign when the house is burning.
10.
“Water is life” —
That’s not just a slogan.
11.
It took me some time to accept
that I’d chosen these bluffs and caves
just as they’d chosen me. This flyover country,
this drive-across land, the bluffs of this winding
ribbon are home.
12.
The river that cuts a country in two
also binds it together.
Jeannine Marie Pitas is a teacher, writer, and Spanish-English literary translator living in Iowa, where she teaches at the University of Dubuque. Her first poetry collection, Things Seen and Unseen, was published by Mosaic Press in 2019. Her favorite poets include Wislawa Szymborska, Zbigniew Herbert, and Delmira Agustini.
