With each step I take
my voice sounds more foreign.
They say that
across the river is a whole
other
country,
but the water whispers the truth,
lapping the hardened,
barrier-laden shores.

My #1 riverwalk
would be one where I can feel
the cool current flow over my hand.
Where I can greet
these narrow, curving waters by
touch,
a handshake,
an embrace between friends.

Who dared mark these boundaries
dividing the land
dividing the self
so starkly?

Am I not 70% water already?
How much of the river is the living bios
of algae, plankton, fish?

I do not cross the river.
Even so,
I cannot walk this same path twice.
With each step
I am transformed,
again and again.

Planet Detroit and Room Project partnered to curate and publish climate poems from our community. Read the rest of the poems here.