Startled by dawn you
navigate the disappearing dream stream
where smells and sounds
lap the boat sides to the rhythm of poignant words
as phrases gurgle and tempt
Pen poised, coffee pressed and drunk
you idolize each wrenching novelty
then scrimp and save them because you’ve
learned that
mutiny awaits, secretly plots
to hide the muse in reeds along the shore
Images, mere fuzz on a fisherman’s sweater
knitted for the long river,
you coax the catch anyway
because it wants to be known
Then set it free,
released back into the flow