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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2018)
Street Roots • June 15-21, 2018 Speak, River by Jay Thiemeyer Street Poetry Page 13 Pecking Order by Daniel Cox what does the river say at this hour, 2 a.m. on a chill morning, no one about, save an old woman walking her small black dog like a shadow on the unlit streets? and sliding on the water appearing overhead, a barge with red lights resembling an outsized alligator waiting Trashcan soldier scavenging Out their living. Salvaging Anything they can of worth Each attacking in disorder No can or bottle goes by Without being taken for ransom. am I delusional at that hour, in need of sleep; is that why I walk down by the river then, to pray on my feet? or is it to listen to the trains grinding, as they move back and forth, great black chains, dragged hugely, by a motherly form, from way deep in the Earth? I have my bike to tow me there and back the exercise of mounting the bluff through Cathedral Park rips out all the char in my chest and my nostrils beg for the air. a separate space in a river moment. I feel criminal, it’s so free and dark there; only a form among the trains as I pray with the water listening for acceptance L A U G H IN G P L A N E T .C O M
