ideas like child’s play
turning, returning, again and again
images spun in sand and light
rolodex of the mind in perpetual motion

spin, repeat, release

This poem was written in response to the January 2, 2017 prompt from Miz Quickly.

Rio 1502

Three small ships, that first of the year,
bear mapmakers from a distant shore,
weary men, painstaking work. Men suddenly
elated to come upon the mouth of a mighty river
ringed by mountains in the warm summer breeze,
River “discovered” in Janeiro and so christened.

Did anyone ask if the river had another name?
A true name, a name full of magic and power now lost
to those who do not hear. A different reality.

Guanabara — “arm of the sea,” forever a river
in name only.

This poem was written in response to the January 1, 2017 prompt from Miz Quickly.