Triptych, Notes from the River
1.
A line of salt
water creeps
upriver daily
closer to oyster beds
and groundwater
we all need to live
2.
Storms and songs have shown
this river for what it is
a hundred years now
It’s inconceivable a drunk
tourist’s mind could fathom
swimming across it
3.
This river doesn’t want
to stay its course
trapped between levees
Given the smallest crease it would
offer itself to floodplains and
church steeples with abandon
Listen to this piece
Read by Jack B. Bedell
Jack B. Bedell is Professor of English and Coordinator of Creative Writing at Southeastern Louisiana University where he also edits Louisiana Literature and directs the Louisiana Literature Press. Jack’s work has appeared in HAD, Heavy Feather, Hawkeye, The Shore, Stone Circle, Psaltery & Lyre, trampset, Some Words and other journals. His work has also been selected for inclusion in Best Microfiction and Best Spiritual Literature. His latest collection is Fight Nights (Blue Horse Press, 2025). He served as Louisiana Poet Laureate 2017-2019.