muddy maumee river
remnant of the great black swamp
i was born along its bank
in a hospital long since abandoned
and grew up next to what
i was told was once the other bank
before it changed its course
as rivers sometimes do
that dry watercourse was a playground
its flat bottom held a football stadium
a running track and baseball diamonds
the trees on it’s sides a child's jungle
i can’t say now what formed in my mind
in those long ago formative years
what ideas flowed into me from that dry river
even today i never know what will flow out
