out there on the banks of the platte river
where maryann went in
and didn’t come out
is a monument that says
‘the river took her before she was a fiver
now she’ll be four-ever’

we damned the river
we dragged the river
we cried a river
for a river bed is nowhere to lay your head
where hers is, somewhere, bobbing
the water moving around her
blood hushed
water rushing
the river living
while it leaves us
grieving