Continental Drift

Russell Banks Continental Drift

for Kathy

Yun seul dwèt pas capab’ mangé gombo.

I am free. High above the mast the moon

Rides clear of her mind and the waves make a refrain

Of this: that the snake has shed its skin upon

The floor. Go on through the darkness. The waves fly back.

— Wallace Stevens, Farewell to Florida

Harper’s Creek and roarin’ ribber,

Thar, my dear, we’ll live forebber;

Den we’ll go de Ingin nation,

All I want in dis creation Is pretty little wife and big plantation.

— Northrup, Twelve Years a Slave

Invocation