Prairie Rivers

Eastern Montana and North Dakota are mostly flat or slightly-rolling loess plains. The rivers here are heavy with silt; they meander, throw off oxbow lakes, and fill themselves in as much as they carry away. The whole erosion/deposition cycle has a much different character than in the Pacific Northwest.

The brides of Earth go dressed in robes of green
and hide behind green veils, as if they're shy.
Their smiles promise gifts from realms unseen,
Their faces, brown and smooth, reflect the sky.

Their touch is life, to lands the sun bakes dry.
Full-figured curves bespeak fertility.
If they meander, here's the reason why:
to kiss their lover's contours tenderly.

It is a gentle landscape you will see
where earth and water meet in fond embrace.
Not like the coastline shaped by stormy seas,
where angry wave meets frowning rocky face.

The children sprung from gentle river plains
laugh like the sun and shed tears like the rain.