Tossing Pennies into the River

Tossing Pennies into the River

by Jennifer Atkinson

 

It’s four hundred miles from its beaver pond source
to the silty sand-barred Old Saybrook mouth

Hayden Pond to West Branch to the Farmington
The Blackledge to the Jeremy to the Salmon

The rivers pour and pour and never fill the sound

Harts Pond to the Mattabesset to the Coginchaug
Pattaconk Millbrook the Lieutenant

Tides rush in and flood the marshland

The Eight-mile, the Duck, Deep River, The Little
Hurricanes downpours dam-breaks ice-floes

The Great Tidal River floods recedes recovers

Tides turn and return turn return so
far so far so far

 

 

Jennifer Atkinson is the author of five poetry collections and individual poems appear in Poetry, The New Republic, Threepenny Review, FIELD, and many other journals. Both her poetry and her nonfiction have been honored with Pushcart Prizes. She teaches poetry and creative writing at George Mason University.