Ohio

I have questioned
the loyalty
of rivers in winter,
their yearnings for oceans obstructed,
indecisive meandering
clogged by ice floes
and winter drought.

No Amazon or Nile
would endure this thickening
of their blood, lethargic existence
of shivering in the season,
or the final degradation
of coal barges, indifferently
scraping congealing skin.