Sunday, February 22, 2009

La Acequia



How do I call the rain?
How do I tell the sky
in a way it will hear 
of our need for water 
for mercy.

The dry river-bed
cracked and fissured
aches in its longing;
stream-beds lie empty;
las acequias dry 
without life-blood
filled instead with brittle memories
of what was once
green and lush.

There are milpas waiting:
verdant fields wanting
to rise above the 
withered husks
again.

I plant this seed
into the hardened earth
with a prayer
a song 
and a dream 
of the rain's return.

4 comments:

Stella Magdalen said...

Petrichor - The smell that rises from a dried earth when the rains first begin.
One of my favourite words and smells.

el poquito said...

very cool Stella.

I HAD to look that one up - very cool word. I love it that there would be a word for that exact moment.

Here's what I found:

petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr) noun

The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell.

[From petro- (rock), from Greek petros (stone) + ichor (the fluid that is supposed to flow in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology). Coined by researchers I.J. Bear and R.G. Thomas.]

Sandi said...

Surely this is a piece of great hope. You don't know how, but you try anyway. Sort of reminds me of my aging body. Sometimes the seed
is an idea that is planted by someone else.

el poquito said...

You got it exactly Sandi.

If my nervous system spoke, this poem is what it would say.

and the milpas waiting (cornfields) - healing movement from idea/intention into action - prayer/song. a call to healing, for petrichor - my new word, concept, scent - thank you stella.

Petrichor. A call/prayer for petrichor