Pushcart Nominee Brian Spears

This is the first installment of the encore presentations of our 2006 Pushcart Nominees' work. Brian's poem originally appeared in our 11th issue.


     Buffalo River, 2002

     It might have been the way you yelped
     at the paddle-splash of water
     on the back of your neck, snowmelt crisp,
     an April afternoon just warm enough

     for us to steer away from cliff shadows,
     from wind-rustled pines. Or the way
     you shed shoes and hat to clamber
     the sandstone face of Jim's Bluff,

     wet footprints diminishing, step over step,
     maybe even the romantic sweep of dragonfly
     skimming the river surface to light
     on flotsam. But in the end I think it was

     the way you bent into each stroke, pulled
     river behind you, pulled us deeper into it.


(This poem is copyright protected, all rights reserved, and may not be reproduced without the express written consent of the author.)