There is a river here that whispers quiet words
that I cannot hear for the rush of fast water
Some days I stand on the bank and pitch
small rocks into the racy blue
In winter it is almost silent, except for the snow
that drops breathless on the ice in a pause
white and holy in a formal spread,
evenly distributed on water and land

Phibby Venable

is an Appalachian poet and writer. Her work appears in numerous anthologies, magazines, journals, and ezines, nationally and internationally, including: Southern Ocean Review, Clinch Mountain Review, Poetrybay, the Appalachian Review, 2River, the Sow's Ear Review, and the Circle Magazine. She has three chapbooks, On White Top, Indian Wind Song, and What I Saw Beautiful. Two full collections, Blue Cold Morning, and Blue Water Poems, are available at Amazon. She lives in the Appalachian mountains of Southwest, Virginia, in the small historical town of Abingdon.

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