The River by Rose Anna Higashi

 

Pixabay

The River

I remember back in Idaho

Decades ago, my daddy

Would sit on the front porch in the evening,

Smoking a cigarette,

And listening to the Snake River.

We couldn’t see it from our house,

But he knew it was there.

Now, as I sit on the back steps,

Thinking of him,

I watch the tide grow higher,

See the stacks of clouds on the horizon

Turn pink, layer by layer,

And listen to the endless call of the sea.

I can’t hear him,

But I know he’s here.

from Searching in Circles (Kelsay Books, 2025)

© Rose Anna Higashi

Rose Anna Higashi

Rose Anna Higashi is a retired professor of English Literature, Japanese Literature, and Poetry who lives in Honolulu with her husband, Wayne. She writes a haiku every day and publishes a monthly blog, “Tea and Travels” on her website, myteaplanner.com. Her poems appear in a variety of online and print media, including Poets Online, whose editors nominated her for the Pushcart Prize. Kelsay Books is scheduled to publish her third volume of poetry, Searching in Circles, in 2025.

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