The Last Day of January by Paul Ilechko

The Last Day of January

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Ice is floating on the surface of the river     the water

appears to be motionless     looking like the skin

of ice is locking it into place     triangles of slush slowly

form in front of the great stone footings that anchor

the bridge     it’s as if the river is quietly creating

its own glaciers     and all we have to do is watch

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downstream     there are rapids     it won’t be

long now until the shad are fighting their way

upriver     some of them will travel over three hundred

miles     some of them will be tangled in the great

sweeping nets where the Lewis Island fishermen

trawl the river bottom     just above the bridge

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for almost two years now we have been frozen

in place      we no longer seem able to create new

memories     most of us will reappear on the other

side of this endless winter that we are traveling through

many of us will not     caught in the nets that were

randomly cast     fins thrashing     gills bursting for air.

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Poet and songwriter Paul Ilechko lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ. He is the author of several chapbooks. His work has appeared in a variety of journals, including The Night Heron Barks, Feral Journal, Iron Horse Literary Review, Gargoyle Magazine, and Book of Matches. His first album, “Meeting Points”, was released in 2021.

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