Lake Mead

a poem

water lapping ghostedge
submerged foundation baked 
all because we built a dam
to catch water
 
water still water flow water
captured and tamed or so
they say as they built that dam
to catch water
 

water abandoned water takeover
water without us subsumes 
water consumes dam without
damn overcome with water
 
water as lake as river as rush
as lips pressed to water as
horse drinking water this manmade
water is border is property
 
water when claimed is of
God whoever drinks from
this spring communes with Him
this delirious hallucinogen: water

water as farmland as fishery
water as government currency
water as object mined
water as torrent divine
water as breath as breathe
water as everlasting Eve
water as salted melted line
water as not yours nor mine

there’s been a grave mistake,
some flaw fatal, that water, 
in the dull lamplight mind,
can’t listen or know:

so need became want 
so share became take
so water became ours
so winterwater hangs
seething in the clouds
waiting to
break 
open
look 
at 
all
that 
water
water 
everywhere
and 
nothing 
left 
to 
drink

---

Lake Mead dwindles, and so too many other basins that supply and withhold precious water— water that Americans desperately need for survival. As drought (widespread, expensive) becomes our constant reality, I wanted to reflect on water and our usage of it. We need water to live; but so does all else.

What reason have we to control water for our human purpose—bustling metropolis (future necropolis), religious ritual, utility bought and sold, watersports vacationry—while forgetting about non-human livelihood?

The photographs are mine, taken at the Oregon Coast (not Lake Mead hehe), and I added poem lines as ‘captions’ as if they were film stills. I think it adds some ephemeral, nostalgic quality to the piece.

I hope you remember to hydrate today.

Megan