bathing in the mississippi

by PW Covington

american Danube
american Yangtze
american Indus, Mekong, Congo, Amazon, Nile, Jordan
Styx
american drain, scouring caustic
american vein, ever-bleeding
into the inherent oceanheart
of every tear
that fell
on The Middle Passage
a debt
a gulf
that Itasca
nor millions of
would-be tributaries
can ever fill

these are waters
that know
how many drops of pain
it takes
to fill a saxophone

bathe here,
bathe