Winter River, Viewed from the Bridge

We throw so much of ourselves

into the river, it’s almost cliché

when the ice shards break free

and give way to the force of the current.

It feels so cathartic witnessing

this display, we can’t help gushing

to one another about the river,

just this Sunday plates of ice;

how in the space of three simple days

the course has come alive, brown

and snarling; how every little thing

we give it, all our attention,

gets gobbled in its hungry mouth

and downstream spit out.