Chicago River Flood of ’92

Chicago River
you old City Drifter
banked and browned
in your earthly lore,
River of Onions
running backwards
in time from nothing,
not fire or war,
until l900,
when they cut off your mouth
at its muddy roar;
silent all these years,
until today when you evened the score
a murky payback
to engineers who reversed your shore
-Kathleen Keenan