Painting by Elaine Brown Folgar
Ashida River Estuary
Past the fields and out toward sea
the river opens slackjawed wide
and gargles the pressing ocean flow
in swirling saline eddies.Over the encompassing channel
and low-lying marshland splat
a little old forgotten bridge
stretches in its radiant guzei red.A man casts off the narrow bridge—
his dangling line dances in the swell
as boys paddle in the saltbrine shallows
through drifting phosphoric blooms.And in the hollow-bellied reeds
a yellowing crane stabs vexed attempts
at oil-slick minnows, while fetid mud
traces down his long, proud neck
