The Main Street bridge was built the year before I was born.
It withstood the threats of the swollen Rock River 
during the flood of 2008, but these last years were just too much
for it to bear, and it began to crumble. 
Our well-being now trumps ignoring the signs of deterioration. 
It is now under reconstruction, and our usual ways 
of traversing have been suspended.
This won’t be an easy fix. Large cranes are needed 
to lift what separates us, hoist the heaviness.  It will take time. 
We have been forced to redirect our daily patterns
so we take the long way, look for new ways of re-connecting 
with the other side until the new bridge is in place.
My prayer is that the troubled waters underneath
will have subsided by then. 

With her retirement from teaching and the pandemic coinciding, Angela Hoffman took to writing poetry. Her poetry has been widely published. Angela’s collections include Hold the Contraries, 2024, Olly Olly Oxen Free, 2023 (nominated for the Eric Hoffer Book Award), and Resurrection Lily, 2022 (Kelsay Books).  She lives in Wisconsin.