In "A River," how is the river in the poem described by the poet Ramanujan when it is flooded and then when it is dried up?

The description of the river at both points is vital.  In
the first stanza, the river is described in a barren way in articulating its dry
condition.  In this stanza, the river is described as being dried "to a trickle" and
"baring the sand ribs."  Essentially, the powers that be, both poets and audience alike,
have determined that the river is only worthy of being discussed and sang about when it
floods.  It is this attention blight that represents part of Ramanujan's critique of the
public and the artists that seek to satiate such interest without refining it.  When the
river has crested and flooded, it is more vibrant and extremely intense.  It is
described in the form of being torrential by increments ("People everywhere talked of
the inches rising") and one with a certain created power.  Ramanujan makes it clear that
"the new poets still quoted the old poets" in failing to acknowledge the fierce nature
and brutality of the river.  It is here in the lack of concentrated effort in discussing
the full extent of reality where there is criticism of the poets and audience that
refuse to open their scope of understanding and articulation to include voices silenced,
such as the pregnant woman who suffered until her last breath.  In this, the river is
described in the same way, failing to be described in a manner that enables people to
think but rather compels them to accept the Status Quo.