Destrehan-Luling Louisiana Ferry Crash Kills 78—October 20, 1976

There are ways
the dying say goodbye—

on a river waving hands
greased in oil that slip away

in a hand that grabs a rail
while the other grips a girl

in hands let go while struggling
to the shoreline in half-light

in the hand over a mouth
holding in one last exhale—

and then are still.

—
Alan Perry holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis, and is involved in programs at the University of Arizona Poetry Center in Tucson, Arizona. He and his wife divide their time between a suburb of Minneapolis and Tucson, and he has poems forthcoming in Sandcutters and The Moccasin.