River Girl IIby Kathleen M. McNamaraLodged in a pension in Geneva I heard Woody Guthrie's ballad About the Columbia River. Homesick before the song played, I was crying by the time the line, "Roll on Columbia, roll on," Finished the tune. I knew every spot on that river Even the exact place where Western becomes eastern Washington at Hamilton Creek. The deer graze on the green Side, not the sere, dry side. Further up river the old snow sheds Were attached to rock and hung Precariously over the river, Hundreds of feet below. Metal nets now replace snow sheds but The river is still larger than reality. Standing on that spot today my Stomach churns at the dizzying Sight yet I feel like a hawk, light, Lifted by the breezes in the gorge, The hard working river's creation as it Goes about its noble task, carrying water Back to the Pacific. ©Kathleen M. McNamara Kathleen M. McNamara lives in the San Francisco Bay area with her husband of 38 years and three cats. Her work has been published in Runner's World, Cat Fancy, Catholic Digest, Timber Creek Review,and several issues of L'Intrigue. |