seeds pressed in black mud on the banks.
clots of root like sprouts.
split, scaly trunks.

basaltic stones. Films of lichen.
the image of its curves.
viscid skin of sheltered pools. Color of sheep’s wool.

language in plural.
wrinkles in its yellow-toothed reflections.
his bare-feet grasping a skin-stripped log.
his hand gripping a fish net.

the co-evolution of the water and its banks.
as though orchestral.

limnology: study of inland waters.

after rain. Color of gray-flecked hair.
image of its sediment cliffs. A parchment.

itch of its flies. Red ticks.
its grasses. Its burrs. Sweat.
next to nothing. Almost everything.

phonology: sounds within a language.
at dusk. Color of bare soles.

the co-evolution of a body and its geography.
as though intentional.
(one is tempted to call it a kind of respiration.)

oxbow. Left behind to turn the fields.
ontology: study of inland water sounds.
within a language.

between the rapids and the rocks.
between the throat and the teeth.
like tricks of birdsong.