Mothercurrent
Always like to overflow
Her banks, she carries it
All – water, sediment, trash, and
Organisms invisible to
The naked eye – toward a
Sea chaperoned by
Gravity. I have
Spent so much fighting
Against her course, kicking
Against rocks, against
Nothing, striking out
Into tributaries that seem
Fresher, purer, more
Honest. But even
Then, I’ve walked some
Stretches – when she’s frozen in
Winter’s terrible clutches – across
Her slick surfaces, unafraid
Of falling through, this ice
A bridge between
Known and unknown.
Tanya Long Bennett is a retired English professor living in North Georgia. Previous publications include Critical Essays on the Essays of Lillian Smith, The Young Intellectual as Lightbearer in Lillian Smith’s Killers of the Dream, and Like a Whirlwind: Lee Smith.
Always like to overflow
Her banks, she carries it
All – water, sediment, trash, and
Organisms invisible to
The naked eye – toward a
Sea chaperoned by
Gravity. I have
Spent so much fighting
Against her course, kicking
Against rocks, against
Nothing, striking out
Into tributaries that seem
Fresher, purer, more
Honest. But even
Then, I’ve walked some
Stretches – when she’s frozen in
Winter’s terrible clutches – across
Her slick surfaces, unafraid
Of falling through, this ice
A bridge between
Known and unknown.
Tanya Long Bennett is a retired English professor living in North Georgia. Previous publications include Critical Essays on the Essays of Lillian Smith, The Young Intellectual as Lightbearer in Lillian Smith’s Killers of the Dream, and Like a Whirlwind: Lee Smith.
