River in Winter

Driving across Indiana on another early

morning in winter, we easily see, through lines

 

of trees now bare and still brightened

by moonlight, tar-black waters of the Wabash

 

slowly flowing between snow-covered

banks, its cold current coming from somewhere

 

far off, toward those old coal-filled boats

floating among folds of the Ohio River Valley.

 

Here, where our winding back road

parallels this tributary, curving around mounds

 

of higher ground, we know we will

follow that river drift twisting into distant land.

 

—Edward Byrne  (Porter County) 

Edward Byrne is the author of eight collections of poetry, most recently Tinted Distances (Turning Point Books, 2011). He has also edited two anthologies of poetry, including Poetry from Paradise Valley (Pecan Grove Press, 2010). His poetry has appeared widely in literary journals, such as American Poetry Review, American Literary Review, American Scholar, Missouri Review, and many others. He is a professor in the English Department at Valparaiso University, where he edits Valparaiso Poetry Review and co-edits Valparaiso Fiction Review.

 

Indiana Humanities is posting a poem a day from Indiana poets in celebration of National Poetry Month.