It Said

I am not bitter

           as a coin is bitter.
         as a used plant is bitter.

(as a used planet is bitter)

I can recoil recall just as
   anyone else
                    almost

   I go out and walk, a hot wind.
       there is no bitterness anywhere.

                   I am like a sheet blown against branches
                       down along our mill canal
                                 (we thought of Her as poison

       when it was our water
         that was poisoned
                                chlorine byproducts.   carcinogenic

        If we had drunk the dark bracken

                      black tea where carp swim

                                       Our stomach would turn
                                           
                                               and be better.

                     I find no iron in that world.

                                   The water's long sleeve

                         is enough         many times