Five Rivers: under bridges

by Jill Wigmore 

1. Nechako

a fish spine crusted to shore

dried eggs sparkling

like lost things stuck to stone

the river trickles

slow       

the Nechako underfull

but imagine it teaming with current:

ripped willows crammed to shore

logs jammed against bridge uprights

and placid massive white sturgeon

languid on the river bottom

unruffled by the water at full bore

undammed

man oh man

I wanna see that one

2. Chilako

one bend available

bridged, seen at a whiz-pass

reeds at river’s edge

eddy river right          

despite the signs the kids park

and plunge

to the chicken-farm river mud

chilako chilako

a song at high speed                                                                           

the view in the rearview

makes you back up

3. Nation

big, slow, sloping water

sweeps the swimming hole

hopefully full of eatin’ fish

more likely fallen cars

from the Nation river bridge

4. Fraser (Fort George)

meet the clang and stink of the black train bridge

dripping the rain into the broad brown river

can trees be proud?

the cottonwoods aren’t quitters

they draw the river up their roots

reach high toward sky

travelers in metal cars untouched

by river life, rife and humming

down below

5. Stuart

two types of water

swirl together in a kindergarten picture of confluence

silt and summer

the sweat of one long lake

giving up to smaller water

pressured into flow

from cloud to this: brown

and bright green

("Five Bridges" was first published in home when it moves you (Creekstone Press 2005)