Voices of the River: A Rhapsody

Stan Chung teaches English at the College of New Caledonia in Prince
George, B.C.

This poetic prose piece is the print equivalent of dreaming while
looking out the window. The dream is beautiful, haunting, and
emotionally significant—to you; but to everyone else it may be a
little self-centred and sleep-inducing. Michael Bullock, a widely
published poet, uses the river (Thames) as a symbol of time, linking the
narrator to the central women in his life. Unfortunately, these women
don’t function as developed characters; they are voices of history.
While elegantly evoking the view, the narrator seems content to be
removed from real dialogue, engagement, and conflict. This personal
rhapsody makes one ask the obvious question: Why should I care?