How to Find Water follow the first tear fallen on cracked desert[1] find its river and know water again cover skin in the mud in celebration of skin and especially mud love the feet and the water[2] and the opening of sky even the crust that has formed on your heels love the last tear of this dry heat journey if it leads you here if it brings you water[3]

[1] here, in this poem, the desert is my heart
howling with wind and ghosts
 
surely not properly watered
which is fine, I respect a desert
it knows how to survive even when it looks dead
playing dead is, of course, a survival skill

 
[2] but here, I also remember
when it was a jungle
 
hot and wet and living
the singing could be heard for miles

 
[3] here, of course, my tears are rain
I, alone, stopped them
 
aren’t we all
just trying to live?