James Harmon Clinton was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2021 for this poem by the editors of The Decadent Review.
“If I had’a followed
my first mind
I’d a been gone
since my second time.”
—Chester Arthur Burnett
I built a house by the river side
I and I and the search for I
Stand watching that river rise
This whole town got the wobbles
Get the kids back safe alive
I built a house by the river side
Heavy weather come threaten I
This country dumb with guns
Stand watching that river rise
My first mind should be dead by now
Scramble up the walls sedition eyed
I built a house by the river side
My first mind requires sedation
Use the word calamity in a sentence
Stand watching that river rise
Again and again the situation
I and the river I and I
Built a house on the river I
Stand watching that river rise.