Near shores
Holiday-lit houses cling to limestone bluffs,
the Mississippi laps against our paddlewheel steamboat.
Looking over the river, I think of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass
the expansive landscapes, the plain folks, big ideas,
the unadorned speech. His words come back to me
in the wakes and waves of an autumn cruise,
in the rusted river barges chugging by,
in hazy cream colored clouds, stars, the moon,
the gleam and shadow of nearby shorelines.
I have his poems at my fingertips.
Frank C. Modica is a retired teacher who taught children with special needs for over 34 years. His work has appeared in Beyond Words Literary Magazine, Frost Meadow Review, Green Ink Poetry, Blue Mountain Review, and Raconteur Review. Frank's first chapbook, “What We Harvest,” nominated for an Eric Hoffer book award, was published in the fall Of 2021 by Kelsay Books. His second chapbook, “Old Friends,” was published this past December by Cyberwit Press.