Jessica Temple
all week I've slept under extra blankets
dogs stacked next to me one two three
like a toppled black totem pole
it's cold but the snow is gone
here it lasted less than an hour
turned to rain and washed away
just a few miles away though
grass still hides under inches
roads patched with invisible ice
and to the south the river thickens
swelled with mud and melt
until it finally spills its banks
it will rage and recede rage and recede
making its way west and strangely north
through the frozen fields of Tennessee
slither to the far side of Kentucky
where still swollen and grimy
it gives over to the Ohio
in Paducah it releases the load
amassed over miles of mud
then snuggles in its bed to rest
[Check out Jessica Temple's back porch advice]
