I pray for permeability –

That restrictive skin

Would not keep out,

Would not contain.

 

Baptize me in the Maumee River

That I may absorb its pain,

The nitrogen, lead, and waste,

And be bound to its health.

 

Green shores eroded to industry,

Agriculture held in isolation,

Promises of urban prosperity;

The river bears the damage.

 

Pain leaches and joins the flow,

From my body, into the water,

Mixing with all life downstream.

Redemption is personal and universal.