met a physical river

Words wind down the page
like that metaphysical river
that author said includes words
but not their definitions

like you contain meanings
but not the feelings fielding
beside, in the margins,
for those written rivers
who pool in deltas or deluges
with their word banks
or word blanks debunked

Until they reach the sea
with waves of approval,
sorrow,
or farewell.
An entire spectrum
a ship couldn’t conceive of traversing
even were it searching
for his home,
his Penelope

across a different
sea-I-told-you-so:
rationality always wins,
it never winds.