The River
A poem by Rosalie Sanara Petrouske

The River
(For Dee, with love)

My sister said,
the day we are born,

a date is chosen for us
to leave life.

We don’t know when
or how soon.

My mother used to say this too.
As a child I pictured a calendar,

with numbers blocked out in red,
pages flipping forward,

faster and faster.

Until then, I plan to awaken
to morning mist,

walk under the stars at night,
listen to a single bird’s song high

in the branches of a cottonwood
along the shore,

and rejoice as light fades,
and dusk falls upon the river.

About the Author:

Rosalie Sanara Petrouske poems, essays, and photographs have appeared in many literary journals, including Passages North, Rhino,Southern Poetry Review, Sky Island Journal, Lunch Ticket, Snapdragon, a Journal of Art and Healing and Still Point Arts Quarterly, among others. Her poetry manuscript Tracking the Fox recently won First Place in The Poetry Box 2022 chapbook competition, selected by author and editor of How to Love the World, James Crews.

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