10,000 Strangers and the Moon
Baptism River flows nowhere
near into or out of Amen Lake.
That much I can tell you for a fact. Spread the word.
There are also, I’ve heard, five Lost Rivers
to be found around here somewhere.
Which never happens twice.
Thief River Falls. Cut Face Creek.
Egg River. Big Dick Lake.
At the top of the Mississippi and its legend,
true, smaller stories
about water are quietly sacrificed.
Because there will always be more. Just wait a night.
Jack the Horse Lake. Crippled Deer Lake.
Dirty Nose Lake. Starvation Lake.
So many stories, so perfectly still to the touch, so as not to interrupt our dreams.
Knife River. Onion River. Potato River. Whiteface River.
Devil Track River. Temperance River. Wild Rice River. First River.
Too few rivers are still known by their native names,
but Minnesotans boast two Rabbit Rivers,
not to mention up north of the Twin Cities and outermost ripple of suburbs
Rabbit Creek, a ghost town I imagine dry as dust except for wells buried beneath bright copper pennies.
Because we’ve always lived to wish
for beginnings, middles
and ends to forget in the dark.