Oh, Cuyahoga, by Ryan Rowland

Nocturne in Black and Gold: The Falling Rocket, by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (USA) 1875

Oh, Cuyahoga

oh Cuyahoga that curve of fire water has seen neon tanked Shooters waitresses fall 
into Sea Do jet boats after September Browns games captained 
by sunburnt major league baseball relief pitchers chaw lips drunk on rum runners and bud light
lime it blanketed a family of poor
cold Irish 
immigrants who worked its salt and 
ore boulders before there were zebra
Mussels this river just an irregular line tattooing Whiskey Island where American flagged cut off P.O.W ZZ Top beards blared 98.5 WNCX Cleveland’s classic rock out of hot 
Harley speakers it even watched me a new 
Groom do lines 
of blow in a porta potty bathroom while the band played Love Shack and she still kissed me goodnight oh
Cuyahoga this river took the beating
from plastic hail storms
Canada born 
Ice hurlers off the lake lit 
on fire in ’69 and randy newman wrote a song encouraging it to 
Burn on one 
Night from across the west bank the kids on Prospect shot 
Whistling Dixies and hissing Black Cats ash can fireworks hot 
august these two
Speckled seagulls looked up and said see this town aint all
rust

Ryan Rowland 

Ryan Rowland lives and writes in Cleveland, Ohio.  His work has been featured by Ornery Quarterly and is forthcoming from Heavy Feather Review this fall. He is a founding member of good word cleveland, a collective of emerging writers.​