Certain Rivers
When it hurts we return to the banks of certain rivers
—Czesław Miłosz
When a river’s crossed,
how many families hold their breath?
Breath-made rivers they cannot keep inside,
one after another, the only thought: Adelante.
Later, with children,
with hours of work wearing down the body,
these breath-made rivers run through
dreams and stories
they tell their children not to voice—
small faces hold still
while questions begin to course
and shadows dam the back of the throat.… Read the rest