Riverbend

II. river-bend

I want to know and control

more than I want to admit.

My canoe paddle drags against the current.

I squint

into the strong wind, the sun,

into every gaze that dares return my own.

Black hole pupils filter

what isn’t meant for me

while love dilates truth to see.

No screeching halt

only riverbend:

canoe in clearwater flow

sun behind me, facing east

a steady oar toward morning

when the trepidatious gaze of dawn

blinks the sleepy horizon alight

to stare me down again.