Ol’ Man River

Stream, flow, bend, forget.

The unguarded boots by the two-foot shrub

groaned; its owner dipping his toes into

the water;

The crack as the flow bangs itself repeatedly

against the smooth rocks; or the faraway

laughs of children at play.

Rolled-up denim and packed lunch and sore

bottoms, wading and splashing at

the short tributary

crawling its way to the mouth of the Capitol

its message a jumble of tears and sweats

and bleached blood

that joins others into the vast

ocean where all is one

but one is not all.

——————-

This is the 100 Songs Project, a 100-day writing challenge based on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs. Every day, I write a short poem, prose piece, or play based on, reacting to, rejecting, accepting, or doing something related to one of the songs in the top 100 list.

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