Poems by Paul Smith
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One Hundred Percent Natural
by Paul Smith
From Canary Spring 2025
Paul lives in the watershed of the North Branch of the Chicago River. Driving over it on Dempster Avenue, the North Branch does not look like the backbone of a large drainage area. The area looks like urban sprawl with a Forest Preserve in the middle. But the North Branch has survived millions of years and has learned to tolerate us. It most likely will survive us.
Thousands of them have found their way
to wind up here
where the air is clear
the waves are mute
they bob and float
in this remoteness
together again
after a swallow or two
from us
the populace
has emptied them
and they were tossed
in the brook
the estuary
the bay
and here now stay
sharing mirth amongst themselves
their contents gone
their glacial mountain purity
but now they’re trash
they brought in cash
laughing at the irony
they populate the open sea
© Paul Smith