If you’re going to drown in a river,
make sure you know its name.
Make sure you know its length its depth
its rocks and soils and oxbows and eddies.
Make sure you know the towns built up on either shore.
Know their names, their languages,
their countries.
Know the fish and plants
(red poppies green birch)
and the birds that eat them
(clover thistle).
Lest the unknown overtake you.
white pebble 