The river from Poughkeepsie, looking north. Juliancolton [Public domain]
Plush-plush, say the double-headed paddle, as each head pulls the brackish water of the Hudson river. Our kayaks flow with the tidal current of New York’s mother river; our strokes adjust our course more than propel us.
We break for lunch on the shore of Pollepel Island, beneath Bannerman Castle. Then we return to the river, where we traverse the Tappan Zee, the river’s widest point.
The shimmer of afternoon sun on the ever-rippling water; the seasonal breezes that rise and fall; the refreshing cool of the late-summer water: I breathe deep and savor the joy of being in the heart of the lower Hudson Valley.
Oh, what fun
this watery diversion
from life closing in
Oh, that every day
I could flow with the current
View facing north on the Tappan Zee near Tarrytown. Hook Mountain, part of the Palisades, can be seen in the background along the west bank. Lithium6ion [Public domain]
for Colleen’s 2019 Weekly #Tanka Tuesday #Poetry Challenge No. 129 #SynonymsOnly
and dVerse Poets’ dVerse Poetics: On Geography (pubtended by Anmol (HA))
Frank J. Tassone 
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