symbolic of our electrical impulse
simple swift & filled with dreams
fast flowing rivers sweep away all
these tedious fears & expectations

& dump them at a delta somewhere
marry them with saltwater tears
then disappear forever rivers
flood the villages irrigate graves

flash like camera bulbs as in
the olden days catch our passing
in the picture cage & trap us there
until the sepia fades away dust

& highwater marks on bollards or
levees – surge over the dry wastes
of our skin our lips our hair &
ears deprive us of light & bury

all our memories under silt &
rain – or else call it pain & pass
over like the thunderbolts inside
a storm from this island’s past –

we are a part of these silent rivers
now – we are the same these streams
& me until the next tide swallows up
this flotsam we will not be free