This is the painting that goes with the following poem. It is part of the Verse and Vision project held recently at the Q Artist's Gallery in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. The poet, Jim Pollock is a talented poet who helped organize the event. Over 300 poems were submitted; 61 were accepted into the show.  Local artists read the poems and were inspired to make art. For me, I loved the image of a river, as it flows through all the seasons.

 If You Are a River

If you are a river,
you most likely spend your summers
meandering through quaint villages
and cuddling up to canyon walls.

Come winter,
you probably freeze your skin
and entertain dark and murky thoughts
beneath your cold exterior.

Until spring,
when you burst forth, invading fields,
tearing up those little villages,
carving up those canyon walls.

Unfortunately by fall,
you end up as
mere stain in the ocean’s current,
mere silt on the ocean’s floor.

At such time, river,
it is worthwhile to remember
that now you know what every river knows,
and you have gone where every river goes.

By Jim Pollock
copyrighted and printed with permission of the poet