[written 8 Feb. 2010]

I've got water on the brain but can hardly translate it
into words I believe can quench your thirst
whether in the Sudan or northeast Ohio

I've got water in my veins and I'd gladly bleed
to satisfy your worthy need if I believed
it would do the trick and I could survive the loss

Okay maybe I do and maybe I can
but I'm as afraid of blood letting as I am to believe that
there could be water enough to keep you alive in these syllables
when my spirit seems dryer than ash and blowing toward death

But though I fall apart
my limbs like embers put out by winter
my blood escaping prodigally onto the barren February earth
where my favorite pen lies half rusted and half frozen
I pick it up and attempt to get as much of my blood as possible
onto paper in the form of words and get them to you
perceived inadequacies and all
before both they and we dry out completely
rendering our water words and translation obsolete.


*