I don't only dream of muddy water by Larry D. Thacker

anymore, which used to bother me

since dark waters portend death they say,

until the dream rivers turned clean and quiet,

clear enough to see under the rippled surface,

deep, deep, until the randomness of truth

focused like a foundation firming up

the river’s webbing:

bald tires and rims,

green pop bottles hurled from the bank,

plastic jug, plastic cup, plastic plate,

glowing green rubber worm hook

caught in a mouthless doll’s face;

streaks of rust and yellowed poison

pooled in a hollow log – mesmerized

into the story of a one-eyed giant catfish.

Larry D. Thacker’s poetry and fiction can be found in publications including Spillway, Still: The Journal, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Poetry South, The Southern Poetry Anthology, The American Journal of Poetry, and Illuminations Literary Magazine. His books include four poetry collections, two chapbooks, as well as the folk history, Mountain Mysteries: The Mystic Traditions of Appalachia. His two collections of short fiction include Working it Off in Labor County and Labor Days, Labor Nights. He earned the MFA in poetry and fiction from West Virginia Wesleyan College.

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