These birds
swarm over this one section
of the old river
pretty much
throughout the day.

They feed
on the small fish
that live just beyond
the shallows
where the railroad bridge
crosses over.

I have no idea
what kind of birds they are
but they look like seagulls
which is weird,
since this is Iowa.

The river itself
is characteristically
ugly
in these parts.

It smells of cow manure
and farm runoff
and though some people still
eat the fish
out of it,
I wouldn't advise
such an endeaver.

The community ignores the river,
by putting up cheap prefab buildings
with their backs to the water,
and filling the banks
with tires and waste.

Every few years
a drunken undergraduate
falls off one of the bridges
and drowns at the roller dam,
but other than that,
we don't even think about
this thing
that flows through
the heart of town.

The gulls, however,
know better,
feasting as they do,
on its bounty,

in essence
serving as an open-air
extension
of the river's mass.

All the while
not noticing
how ugly
this beautiful river
seems
to me.