crouching at the great river
watching school teem so heavily
walking from this bank means
nothing
my armies must do more than
hold me back my enemy escapes
he slips beyond those dunes
his head in my hands would avenge this
gather all men from our sudan
like gordon he shall behold the white
nile from the prick of a pike
J. E. Robinson is the author of the young adult novel Skip Macalester, of The Day Rider and Other Stories: A Collection, and of How Hair Changes before Expiration: Poems. His plays have appeared in Alaska, in Louisville, Kentucky, in Saint Louis, Missouri, and in New York City off-off-Broadway, most recently with SOLEDAD featured at Theater for the New City. He teaches history at the University of Health Sciences and Pharmacy in Saint Louis.