As the Seasons Eat Each Other Over & Over, I Stand at the Edge of the River & Watch it All Happen
by Tyler Wilkerson
The Snake's tail slides down its own throat
This river is new Then new & new again Waters are gone
before they can settle in Lost again as soon as they're found
Found beneath pebbles tadpoles struggle into frogs Rocks erode
via snow to be young again for the spring & sprouts cloud their cracks
with a desperate yearning green This river is new again
& blue again her currents crashing onto the sandbanks
& becoming part of the past again Bears will tackle fish
until the fish fight back again Fishing lines reach out like vines
& the fish fight back then pulling their poles down
the unseen depths of the river as The Snake's tail is lost forever down its throat
How fast do your floods consume How fast does it all let go
There are stumps here who have never moved and little fresh streams
who lose themselves down new ravines everyday where fossils lay waiting
to breathe the river’s air again The riverbend is unfair as it winds on
long after I'm gone but buried within the sand my footprints will remain
in some obsolete sinking way My place will stay
and I'll bleed my days dry watching it all happen
from the edge of the river as the seasons eat each other
over & over.
Tyler Wilkerson is a previously unpublished poet and lover of words studying English literature and Creative Writing at Missouri State University.