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center for writing | minnesota writing project

Barb Everhart

© 2007

“to capture a time when passion led actions”  JL

The River Flats                             7/13/07

Oh, how time has passed
The sounds of construction off the river
The birds chirping in the trees
The faint sounds of laughter
Of a team from the past

I remember those days fondly
The wading in the water at 5:30 am
The sound of the oar hitting the water
With a crisp splash
And a grunt, as it’s pushed through the river

Lifting the boat overhead
River foam, dripping from the boat onto our sweaty bodies
Climbing the hill, boat on a shoulder
Placing the eight behind some chicken wire
Located in the corner of a parking garage

But times have changed
The old buildings have come down
And new ones created
To serve the young and able-bodied women
That row for the U. today

The memories are fading
As with the setting sun on the Old Mississippi
We can still be seen, if you look really hard
We’re the women that weren’t paid, weren’t gifted
Weren’t beckoned by a Varsity coach

We were the rowers, the past
The women made of steel, and grit, and grind
No locker rooms, no showers
Only our kind
To pave the way for the Powerhouses of today.