The river through the city here
is badly misplaced, not so much boring
as missing something a city river should have.
There are no tall buildings
staring down at the river, no people
gazing out of office windows
watching the shadows of their prisons
dance on the moving waters.
Even in smaller cities the rivers
bisect its life, people noticing,
peering down as they cross bridges
from this heart of the city to
that heart of the same city.
Here there are no tall buildings,
there is no downtown to be bisected
and we realize our city is more
suburb and the river an overlooked
invitation to stare into the quiet water
and wait for the mangroves
to finally tell their stories.