Riven

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three girls drowned in the Oconaluftee River while trying to escape from government boarding school

The pull for home is so strong,
stronger than death,
that it was worth the risk
the river soothed their way home

Moon's hair strewn on the river
their own black hair flowing in currents
When they called to their mothers to help them

it was not in the forced tongue of English
but in the language they drank at infancy
The river took their words and carried them downstream
the river soothed their way home

Those girls swallowed words made of water
(You see what I mean about stories
they pull you along, even when you don't want to go)

Women come to cut river cane
found the bodies, wove of their grief
strong-ribbed baskets to carry the load as
the river soothed their way home