Jim Ross

One Last Adventure

Ol’ Man River, the Mississ Sip, Ol’ Muddy, Big Blue
You’ve more names than Lord or Lucifer
Your might is what draws me back, that and
a wish: can I ride you one last time?

I dream, I refreshed at an oasis far from home
I wake to find my head flatbacked
beneath the water line as a child,
birdlike, laughs me up and down.

I’m not done. I’ve still got it. I’m going to show
the Odysseus in me can still break through.
I can’t hold back. I’ve got to act as if tomorrow will never come
like when I ran the red sand hills with their crushing downs.

Do I still have the time, I wonder, to build a raft and sail the river down?
Will sweet Ginger get upset if for dinner I don’t quite make it home?

Jim Ross jumped into creative pursuits in 2015 after rewarding research career. With graduate degree from Howard University, in seven years he’s published nonfiction, fiction, poetry, photography, plays, and hybrid in 175 journals on five continents. Writing publications include Columbia Journal, Hippocampus, Lunch Ticket, Manchester Review, Newfound, The Atlantic, and Typehouse. Text-based photo essays include Barren, DASH, Kestrel, Ilanot Review, Litro, NWW, Sweet, Typehouse. He recently wrote/acted in a one-act play and appeared in a documentary limited series broadcast internationally. Jim and his wife–parents of two nurses, grandparents of five little ones—split their time between city and mountains.