Chapman’s Bridge by Jane Edna Mohler

Chapman’s Bridge

Try to remember this old bridge
that once carried the serious work

of miners’ wagons. Now it hosts
cyclists and birders with those huge

binoculars. It’s the view they want.
Hulks of drowned trees

trimmed with cormorants groaning
while amorous carp swirl the amber water.

Storms carve the river’s currents
only to be changed by the next storm.

Algae-slimed rocks crawling with Mayfly
larvae and bloodworms poised

to transform, then forget
who they once were.

Turtles bubble the surface hoping
for handouts. We all look alike to them.

A marble plaque, yellowed like old teeth,
is engraved with the names of the grand

folk who commissioned this bridge.
Nobody remembers them.

Low enough for toddlers to explore, they fit
their fingers into letters they can’t yet name.

*

Jane Edna Mohler is a Bucks County Poet Laureate (PA) emeritus, and winner of the Main Street Voices. She placed second in the Crossroads Contest. Nominated multiple times for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, her collections Broken Umbrellas (2019) and Autumn Clears (2025) are both from Kelsay Books. Recent publications include Gargoyle, Sheila-Na-Gig, Thimble, and the recent anthology from Terrapin Press, The Color Wheel. She is Poetry Editor of the Schuylkill Valley Journal. janeednamohler.com