A refreshing mix of poetry and prose by Eve West Bessier, Poet Laureate of Grant County, New Mexico (and occasional guest writers)
Water Flowing Underground
The Mimbres River flows south from the Black Range and the surface flow
of the river dissipates in the desert north of Deming, but the river bed and
storm drainage continue eastward, any permanent flow remaining underground.
Excerpt from: “Mimbres River Basin, State of New Mexico Wildlife.” Archived from the original on 9/5/2008
Snowmelt swells the Mimbres,
flowing under cover of stars,
down from the Gila headwaters
through this quiet bucolic valley.
The river’s rush in monsoon season
turns to gurgling whispers in fall.
The cottonwoods hush their greens
to yellows, then browns, then gone.
When the river’s surface flow
trickles south, ending
in yucca-speckled desert,
there is water flowing underground,
unseen beneath the dry riverbed.
Like this high desert river,
the life stories
of the ancient Mimbres people
who lived here from 200-1000 CE,
endure underground,
an invisible flow.
When painted Mimbres bowls rose
to the surface, cowboys used them
for target practice, as a lark.
Later archeologists excavated more,
pieced together their significance,
then placed them under glass.
History, like an underground river
slips beneath
our modern sensibilities until
something unearths
its memory, something that rings
true, demands attention.
When the water reappears
from dry soil, we are awed
as if it has come from nowhere,
but beneath the surface
an ancient subterranean
aquifer whispers its deep
enduring promise.
What stories do our underground
waters speak in subdued
yet urgent tones, heard
only at night when clouds
obscure the stars
and monsoon rains
swell the current?
What must we learn
from these stories?
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For more information about
Eve West Bessier scroll down,
or go to: www.jazzpoeteve.com.
