I remember hearing it before seeing it.
Feeling in the heart its’ cosmic hum.
Pulse of blood rushing to the temples.
Heavy rollercoastering roar of current.
Its’ turquoise jade body inescapably ceding
to gravity’s ominous pull.
It was that high tide inside oneself. Immensity’s
Perpetual aortic leap into the drop of the abyss.
As I look at the erasures of us in those faded
Polaroids & Kodaks, I only now realize that we
Too, amidst those endless crowds of tourists,
Were no more than drops of water falling.
H2O particles. Spritz from life’s colossal flow.
River of consciousness eternally brimming,
Cascading over the escarpment or the universe.
Niagara Falls was our refuge from tedium.
So many times we drove down from boring,
Sweltering Sundays for a change in atmosphere.
How wondrous when visitors came from overseas
Yearning to see the Honeymoon Capital of the World.
We gladly drove them down through the highways
To wine country, Clifton Hill & Lundy’s Lane.
We sat and picnicked on the grass
Where multitudes had stood before.
They say the sun was out when Annie Edson
Survived her barrell trip over God’s water slide.
They say her agents had wolfish eyes.
Just tried to make a buck out of her skill.
But they too are gone. Now they sell postcards
Of her story and her name’s in all the gift shops.
The world’s sightseers are all here taking photos
& buying souvenirs. Soon they will drive off
To be replaced tomorrow and tomorrow
After that by new faces in search of wonder,
Each one repeating, sparkling, falling
On the arched green of time’s precipice
Invisible life force calling all of our names.
Oh mighty river, my heart is in your hands.
Josie Di Sciascio-Andrews is a poet and the host & coordinator of the Oakville Literary Cafe Series. Her new collection, Sunrise Over Lake Ontario, was published in 2019. Her previous poetry publications include: Sea Glass, The Whispers of Stones, The Red Accordion, Letters from the Singularity and A Jar of Fireflies. Josie’s poetry has been shortlisted for the Malahat Review’s Open Season Award, Descant’s Winston Collins Prize and The Canada Literary Review ’s Summer Poetry Competition, The Eden Mills Festival Literary Contest and the Henry Drummond Poetry Prize. Her poetry has won first place in Arborealis Anthology Contest and in Big Pond Rumours Literary E-Zine.