The Gorge

by Melanie Choukas-Bradley


As I lie here at dawn
Awaiting double biopsy results
I am the wild river in the gorge

Whatever news flows through me this day
Will tumble over great falls
And sluice through the gorge

Family and friends
Scattered above rock walls
Wave to me from the rim, waiting

I am flowing through rock
Breaking through rock
As all my waters from all my tributaries push to the sea


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Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a naturalist and award-winning author of seven nature books, including City of Trees, A Year in Rock Creek Park, Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island and The Joy of Forest Bathing. She began writing poetry during the pandemic and had the good fortune to discover Writing in a Woman’s Voice. The site has featured several of her poems, including “How to Silence a Woman,” and “If I have loved you,” both of which won Moon Prizes. Melanie's poetry has also appeared in The New Verse News. She is working on a nature memoir about the Potomac Gorge.