A river slips

By Cole Swensen
a river slips
                        in shifting leaves
sifting. a river sifts
                        and falls to pieces
in which not seen
                        (this we never see)
in splices.
                        if fall a great distance, if a river

fall shelter, if a river fall find

several miles slightly off-center.

It took centuries
                        of falling—most rivers

are not actually
                          flowing, but falling
the length of themselves
                        times the sun.

Copyright Credit: Cole Swensen, "A river slips" from Gave. Copyright © 2017 by Cole Swensen. Reprinted by permission of Omnidawn Publishing.