The River Has Many Faces

The River Has Many Faces
The river has many
faces, surprising
with the medicine
of its song. Endless
ripples and rhymes,
an oft needed balm.

Meandering at times,
snoozing under willows,
flowing like a fluid ribbon,
appearing to dally, so
deceptive in its motion.

Beware, though, the
taunted river, flush
with a sea load of
rage, bursting at the
seams, a roaring fury
like an angry god

long past placation,
uncontainable in modest
banks, carving canyons,
razing townships, in
a rush to flush it all
and return to the sea.

The cycle starts anew:
so many faces, so many
rivers, so many clouds
blowing in from the coast
covering the sky
with water from the sea.

For the French Broad and Swannanoa Rivers, Asheville, NC, October 2024

“High Water (For Charley Patton)” – Bob Dylan 

Gene Hyde

Gene Hyde lives in the French Broad River watershed near Asheville, North Carolina, an area still recovering from the widespread destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene. His writing and photography have appeared in such publications as Appalachian Journal, San Antonio Review, Raven’s Perch, The Banyan Review, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, and Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene. 

“High Water (For Charley Patton)” – Bob Dylan