Water that
Desmond A. Miller
May 2020
A reflection
on the qualities of water
during the COVID-19 pandemic
water
water that bathes
the hands I am told
to wash
and, I wash
frequently
water
water that needs
boiling
in First Nations communities
here, in Canada
before
it can be used
water
water that holds
all my losses and sorrows
contained in envelopes of pain
carving riverbeds down the sides of my face
paving the way to welcome
joy
water
water that courses
through my body
when I'm feeling
myself
dancing, decluttering, conceiving
a different world outside of these walls
that starts with
feeling the world inside my heart
Ọṣun, Aphrodite, Erotic
and many other names
water
water
water my ancestors
drank and
tended and
sang to and
travelled over and
gifted to me
to borrow from my
descendants
water
water that houses
in tiny droplets
aerosol spray
this tiny virus
whose arrival turned
human world upside
down
water
water holds it all
even while being held by this Earth
I want to be held, too
can't remember the last hug that
I felt
and yet I am held
by water