water riffles over rocks
in shallow turmoil,
spurts
at crossovers,
and meanders
to the banks to scour the margin
I hold on to a branch
flow tumbles
at the knick-point
and bellows,
step to step,
in solid spray
that makes volume heavy
I feel my voice
and fall flees
down to the basin,
its upsurge
muffled by depth,
underflow
spawns anguished bubbles
I catch the pops
collapses in the plunge
pool whirls and fries
foam and twigs and leaves
and holds kinetic mass
in unresolved vortex
I cup my hands and liquid overflows
sun jinks on the pool
shards dissociate on the glaze
I can not hold the dapples in my eyes
a deep run slackens flow and
surface water and groundwater and drip and spray and rain
pool together
and assimilate sweat
I breathe green air
liquid tension, disrupted by hands,
absorbs them and
reforms without trace
behind the dragged vee
I exhale a cloud
cobbles and boulders and fingertips polished
by the flow present a skin that smooths identity
I look behind myself
beneath the canopy, light
sinks
to the bedrock and
returns rusty from
the underflow
sediment breeds green fur
I slip on rock
oxbow mud contains the lag
is pushing into space between my toes
is sticking to everything and nothing
can escape its brute grip
I curl my toes into the slime
the agony of water tells me
I am free