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Hydrology of California: An Ecopoetical Alphabet
- Wesleyan University Press
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8 5 H Y D R O L O G Y O F C A L I F O R N I A a n e co p o e t i c a l a l ph a b e t There’s a river of rivers in California beyond all earthquakes bringing coiled water from the north It is grammar when we are anxious in our days bringing tumble from freshets north of Klamath where redwoods release fog drops ceaselessly from filtered tops Steelhead Coho salmon the few that do to Humboldt past dams hereafter known as / where streams/ like colorless green ideas leap furiously/ where the Eel River flooding 753,000 feet per second /sees fewer eels than before Future of poetry there’s a stream between a & b as i write this a dream of a west that would outlast us/ if we were life which we are drops from Trinity ice storms to Smith River & down North Coast regions brighter seaside towns with two waitresses named Pam Future of poetry i saw a black-faced gull a juvenile awaiting neap tide We use the word neap to mean purple runnels/ Banks gathered wild force at the edge of names Mattole Navarro /Hearts gathered wild force electrons trading energy for food Future of poetry Let’s move between emotions in hydropoetics for i am a pilgrim with no progress recalling rivers when we were anxious past wetlands needing every turning time/ more than people need little dams for arugula Many had lawns They had to shower/ They had to eat i said to main brenda Now don’t start just ignorantly criticizing state dams the whole time You drink gallons of it you know you do / We followed creeks through decades left of where eagles can eat whole deer Stopped near Fort Ross We looked up to redwoods releasing beads fog drops The women so kind in Mendocino They took the beyond & ran with it You wrote on the memory tablets/ Blind sticks arranged themselves 8 6 Water-bearer was your star Our settlements didn’t last nor should they have nor should they There were economics & lifestyles after explorers made possible the cogs/ .00001 percent in rain fell down /We stood & loved south/ of the delicate eerie lighthouse at Point Arena where griefless the sea lions loll There’s a quiver of rivers the Sacramento We saw a pleasant pheasant near a pylon in the Delta its back a walking rainbow in 100,000 acres they saved the they who can save\ We don’t hate developers or do we We hate their greed those butt-ugly buildings Actually butts are adorable compared to Gated communities/ the poor buildings can’t even cry though wild radish loves them Raphanus raphanistrum “common in disturbed places” Maltese crosses each flower a shadow/ violet in its means/ We ran near why-worry levees & one time one of the developers said Well you wouldn’t want to live in a tee-pee now would you brenda Future of poetry we saw dactylic glomerata Leaves of grasses\ i don’t honestly mind the word introduced as in introduced species between c & d dogtail grasses cynosurus echinatus Near the Capitol assemblymembers were drinking Fanta near a fanning floodplain/ coots with white beaks east of Feather River between e & f trace horse gold rush \boys picking pyrite from the North Fork & 2 waitresses named Toni Gold must be so glad in heaven glad & gold are [3.87.209.162] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 10:34 GMT) 8 7 brothers w/ di‡erent mothers The lovely & a bit dammed American River\ mergansers & brome/ bu‚eheads like reverse Oreos rice fields\ algae from phosphates Such afternoons might seem owned O unrushed dream of time i saw some earthly flapping in the rushes/ swallows eating pounds of gnats/ & both shall row My love & i leaned on our tailbone The Giants were ahead for a change in someone’s earphones A fundraiser for fucked-up rivers History turned half our faces golden for a change\A day so bright we could not hear the paradox set up by Being Then Gary yelled Hey & a tall cloud passed by like a yoga teacher Inside each seed\ didn’t look like competition but floated forever from us to you Future of poetry We wanted not to fear human life to know as molecules know like water from a book There’s a shiver of rivers north of Shasta that melts when we are faster storms split the plus signs lava flowed from...