Push the River

Photo by Echo Wang on Unsplash

Recently, I read an article about how climate change is affecting the Chicago River. That got me thinking about how the river has been engineered and interfered with for years, which led to thinking about how humans have engineered and interfered with so many rivers.

Chicago pushed her broad shoulders against the river

turned it away from her heart’s longing — the lake.

Celebrates every year with gallons of dye —

turns the river green for the amusement

of humans who filled the river with their waste —

made it necessary to wrestle it so many years ago.

Near my home, the Ohio River tumbles into the falls —

or it did —

until engineers mechanized and tamed the wild freedom of the river

for the cruel freedom of commerce.

I sit on the banks of the Ohio River and I know this to be true:

She remembers.

She vibrates with the force of the freedoms

we think we engineered away from her.

I tell you this —

keep clear of the dams and locks and barriers

or be swept away when she pushes back.