Cole Pragides
Cole Pragides was born and raised in San Francisco and currently lives in Philadelphia. He studied creative writing at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and attended the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Naropa University. His work has recently been published in The Southeast Review and Bombay Gin. You can find him here, skating, or with his feet in the water and his hands in the dirt.
River I Remember
River who dive under roadways, runoff river, relocated
river, straight river, sitting river, bottom of the barrel
river, small river, swift river, contained in a culvert river.
River of backyards, neighborhood river, river I have known forever,
river with a path, river with a bite, sweet river, bitter river,
river we take turns walking, river, you hidden dividing line.
River we tripped into, river I was scared to say out loud,
river who flow alongside me, river who grow in the night,
river that named me, swollen river, flooding river, river I overflow.
River of all seasons, spider river, cottonwood river, fireproof
river, river that swallows you whole, river I seep into, oil slick
river, river of rainbows, found family river, river that calls without asking.
River of firsts, river of lasts, eclipse river, hairy river, river with a belly,
river that marks my skin, pierced river, river that know no time, river we leave behind,
river we drive over in a UHaul, river who wore my clothes before and after they fit me.
River who trickle, river who crash, river who taught me to make noise. River come back to me. River
that belong to no one. River that will one day run dry. Forgive me, river, forget me, river. Pool, river.
Glide, river. Run river, run.
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Image by David Zherdenovsky from Pexels
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