Bridges

February 26

I am thankful for bridges. Bridges allow us to get from one place to another, crossing depressions, waterways, or even obstacles. Thus, they allow people to move between places, and symbolically, close the gulfs between people, allowing us to become closer.

This photo is of the railroad bridge which spans Bayou Manchac next to Santa Maria Golf Course in Baton Rouge. Bayou Manchac is the waterway that flows from the Mississippi River to the Amite River, which eventually flows into Lake Maurepas. From there, it is possible to pass to Lake Pontchartrain and then to the Gulf of Mexico past New Orleans. The French explorer d'Iberville discovered it as a rapid way to get to the Gulf of Mexico from the present day site of Baton Rouge. It is interesting in that its flow used to depend on the level of water in the Mississippi River. When the Mississippi was high, the water in Bayou Mancac flowed away from it, but when the water in the Mississippi River was low, the flow was in the opposite direction. Now, since the construction of the Mississippi River levee system, Bayou Manchac is cut off from the Mississippi River, so it serves chiefly to drain water runoff from in and around Baton Rouge and into the Amite River. Two of my favorite Baton Rouge golf courses, the University Club and Santa Maria lie next to Bayou Manchac. A third, the Country Club of Louisiana, which I have played only once, also is situated next to the bayou. It's pretty amazing to me that three golf courses would be in such close proximity to a single bayou.

bridges

there are bridges over rivers

and bridges that span over great chasms

there are bridges that bring people together

joining our collective protoplasms

but the most useful bridges of all

from dusk until the dawn

are the bridges on our noses

that keep our glasses on.

© rt tulley