"River" by Charlene Stegman Moskal

Our lines stretch and waver; pieces of DNA from an ancient spool reach out tentative to touch

parallel lives, wanting to envelop, entwine, but hesitant to ford the river’s swift moving currents.

Touch, that commitment to connect carries with its promise the possibility to unravel, become

tattered, torn, turned away, drift solo in ripples of I told you so and what were you thinking. Only

those with nothing to lose jump in, float on top where the current slows to a gentle push, sends soft

signals, allows the dizzy, surprised embrace of two separate lines to merge with the expectation of

what’s next? Where does this river with its roars and murmurs lead? What ongoing rhythms will

bring us safely, joyfully to the shore?

Leaves drift unaware

Reeds watch over muddy banks

birds prepare to fly

Charlene Stegman Moskal is a Teaching Artist for SPRAT Interdisciplinary Arts and the Las Vegas Poetry Promise Organization. She is published in numerous anthologies, print and online magazines including: “TAB Journal”; “Calyx”, “Humana Obscura”, and “Mac Q” Her chapbooks are “One Bare Foot”, (Zeitgeist Press), “Leavings from My Table”, (Finishing Line Press),“Woman Who Dyes Her Hair” (Kelsay Books) and a full length poetry collection “Running the Gamut” (Zeitgeist Press).