Rugged Look

By Marc Darnell

He loses himself in the river that sends

a boy down the rapids that make a man,

gasping hard and gulping in

the breakneck current, known to rend

a will apart, avoided by men

afraid to wet their feet, who often

die of thirst.  Doubt will soften,

unravel his pride-- already undone

by papa prone to beat, so toward

the undertow he heads, a bull

pulled fast and far, and probable

to live a rigid life, a ward

of aches too raw to hide or dull--

a bruin face unlovable.

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Marc Darnell is an online tutor and lead custodian in Omaha NE.  He received his MFA from the University of Iowa, and has published poems in The Lyric, Rue Scribe, Verse, Skidrow Penthouse, Shot Glass Journal, The HyperTexts, Candelabrum, The Road Not Taken, Aries, Ship of Fools, Open Minds Quarterly, The Fib Review, and elsewhere.  His latest book is Forecast: Increasing Visibility from Kelsay Books.  He has 3 times been awarded the Academy of American Poets prize.