5. Fluvial
Don’t call us ‘river’
as if we were singular –
a blue, serpentine line on a map,
an ‘s’ from source to estuary;
an abstraction
to be navigated, straightened.
fished, dredged. A g a p i n g mouth for waste disposal. If you must make us ‘river’, sense our communities
of muds, molluscs, marshes, mires;
of sedge-fen with Moorhen
& shy Water Rails. Of wet woodland & carr,
where scrubby Willows touch
Tussock Sedge, Lichens, Moss. Know us as centuries-weathered cliffs of apricot sandstone
that’s home to Martins, Kingfishers.
As thin tributaries tickling pebbles …
as winterbournes roaring to life
with late November storms.
Feel us as sweet water becoming saline –
where does ‘river’ begin / end?
What does ‘river’ include?
Ask Swan, Heron, Cormorant, Mallard, Coot. Consult our tousle-haired Reeds stirred by summer breezes, with wild words of Warblers, Buntings & Bearded Tits – watch these cinnamon-feathered acrobats
who flit
through crowds of waving stalks.
Take what you must for your thatch,
baskets, hurdles & traps.
Forage & fish where there’s plenty.
Water our meadows for grazing;
& tend our banks – as you have.
Yet comprehend that unlike your ancestors –
who kept us sacred,
revered Arnematia, Celtic goddess of springs, & Lympha, whose irrigating waters Roman farmers would gratefully bless –
you industrialised peoples have e n s l a v e d ,
reduced us to a route to trade
timber, wool, stone, clay; a route to profit ceaselessly at our expense,
via your barges, cranes,
your wharves, warehouses, your moorings, marinas, your dredgers, Sunseekers.
For too long we’ve endured your ‘d i f f u s e p o l l u t i o n’ –
chemical spills, ‘r u n – o f f’, sediment choking our beds where Salmon build their redds; your nitrates & phosphates seeping via ditches from agribusiness.
Our waterbodies have ingested raw
shit, condoms, nappies, tampons; have swallowed hormone pills, Big pharma drugs that warp the tender gonads of Fish. Your industrialised life is our death by a thousand c u t s . . .
So don’t speak to us of ‘improvement’!
We, who’ve been here eons longer than your short spell on Earth, are sovereign communities, have the right to self-determine.
Hear us – how we ache to be flood-plain again,
to swell with rising tides & heavier rains,
to go unblamed for ruining your crops,
pouring under your doors,
spoiling rugs, sofas, curtains.
Instead, let’s refresh carpets of rush-pasture with a weft of Creeping Bent &Yorkshire Fog. Let’s restore delicate embroideries of Angelica, Ragged Robin, Meadow Rue, Skullcap, Marsh Valerian –
this host of wild medicines,
which your bodies know. Let Eels, Sticklebacks, Stone Loach, Minnows flourish.
Let kids swim among Water Lilies on hot July days.
Let Beaver, Marsh Harrier, Otter; Lapwing, Redshank, Snipe. Let old John bring his rod & writhing Ragworms wrapped in damp newspaper to catch a little supper from the towpath.
Live & let live Waterweeds in our braided channels,
where Midges, May Flies breed; where hunting Trout & Salmon lie concealed. Let there be Wagtail, Dipper, Ruddy Darter, Scarce Chaser, Banded Demoiselle.
Then, with your microscope, watch how our unseen peoples swim into view –
x20. x40. x100.See invisible ‘river’ reflected through microbiologist eyes.
From o n e drop of water,
our single-celled beings constellate like s t a r s … Protozoa, with emerald jewels enclosed in watery bodies,
are tiny front-line workers
cleaning & aerating all the while. Let Stentor, Lachrymaria, Euplotes … & know there’s no separation – as you hurt ‘r i v e r’, so you hurt yourselves.
Come, bring gentler hands to co-operate –
let’s be communities of diverse voices with a common future. A communion of subjects & one Commonweal
You can listen to the entire sequence of the poem via my SoundCloud (Helen Moore Ecopoet): https://soundcloud.com/user-561958272/sets/dorset-waterbodies-a-common