two rivers merge:
the smaller, lighter branch
seems shut out, but
the bigger river moves
onward a lighter shade.
Two Rivers Merge [Tanka]
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Tag Archives: Rivers
The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes [w/ Audio]
I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers. I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep. I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it. I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I've seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset. I've known rivers: Ancient, dusky rivers. My soul has grown deep like the rivers.
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Three River Haiku
I
from a tree’s shade,
i admire bright, blue skies —
sunlight shimmers
II
washer-woman,
sitting at the river’s edge,
envying flow
III
foggy river
its far bank hazy,
a duck quacks
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POEM: Strange Rivers
Lest you think you know rivers —
just water meandering mountain to sea;
there are strange rivers in this world.
There’s a river in Cambodia, the Tonlé Sap, that yearly switches its direction.
The Okavango can’t be bothered to get to a sea, an ocean, or even a lake. Instead, it becomes a desert swamp — obstinately creating a thing one might be forgiven for thinking impossible.
There are blood red rivers and licorice black rivers.
There are rivers that take a holiday, and rivers that only show up for the 100 year flood.
There are rivers that look like they’re barely moving that can sweep a man to his death.
Rivers with dolphins. Rivers with fish too fat to swim. Rivers with creatures, Mesozoic-ugly.
A river in India, the Sarasvati, up and disappeared.
There are rivers that aren’t even rivers, but metaphors for that which we think eternal but which vanishes each instant to be replaced by a look-alike.
There are strange rivers.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 