water

jan 6th 2007
*

I thought I was only me and they teach that you are nothing,
but Mother --
Mother says we are water, just like her.

Now, how could it be other...
Are you a slab to temptation?
A volcano, unmoved to mourn its dead?

Or are you divided and poured together
again and again
mingling with forgotten wholes in joy
meeting yourself with joined palms
all over these rugged and comely lands?

Like mother, like mother.
As the legs spread so must the hips.
Like mother, like children.
As the earth is wet so must the body be.

Love mother, love children.

You jealous prize of generals,
You will not be bucketed, for long.

You thought it too hard and they teach you too little,
but Mother --
Mother has too many poems for water,
each of them a word:

jal
aqua
ocean
drop
mai
pani
l'eau
oxum menininha
...
[continues...]