Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Watershed Moments




painting from fineartamerica.com 


Watershed Moments

“It’s hard to see a river all at once; even at the
headwaters, you teeter on the edge of a
hundred tiny watersheds.”
--Lynn Culbreath Noel.

Prehistoric

When the earth was young,
its’ hydrologic cycles were brutal,
unchecked and over zealous.
The planet was covered with water,
and plagued with monstrous 
thunderstorms and hurricanes.

Evaporation

Our mother star, the sun, got busy
and boiled the surface 
of the infinite seas,
and the cycle slowed,
and land masses began
to jut up, forming atolls, islands
and continents.
Water vapor became mist and fog,
and it rose up like locusts
from horizon to horizon.

Transpiration

Sea plants became land plants.
Amphibious life crawled up
from out of the salty stew.
The plants need water,
but after sustenance, 
it passes through them
as they exhale and expel it.

Condensation

Mist and fog begins to cool
as it rises in the atmosphere,
creating great wooly herds
of clouds, which develop
dark fat sagging bellys
filled with rain and snow.

Precipitation

Rain, sleet, hail and snow
bombard the surface,
promoting growth,
and birthing lakes, ponds and puddles.

Run Off

Sometimes, an abundance of water
that is not absorbed or evaporated,
runs off and gathers into flood zones.
On the desert it becomes a flash flood.
Wherever this water congregates
at a common point, this is called
a watershed.

Percolation

Normally, a lot of water
can seep underground
and replenish the aquifers,
and form icy pockets 
of artesian goodness.

Life would not survive
without molecules that are
two parts hydrogen
and one part oxygen; if
we had gills, we’d breathe it too.



Glenn Buttkus

Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub

10 comments:

Linda Lee Lyberg said...

Wow. A spectacular history of our world Glenn. Well Done. And indeed, we would not survive without water.

Merril D. Smith said...

I like science-related poems, and yours is so well done. I like stanzas divided and recalling the history of the earth in water, and the ending is wonderful.
I can't see the poem here on the comments page, but you had some great lines. :)

Grace said...

I like the science inspired poems, separated by topic. Amazing how sea plants became land plants, the currents from sea to birthing lakes, ponds and puddles.

Jade Li said...

I like your telling of the ecology -- or is it biology -- of Mother Gaia's growth and development via her gift of life, water.

Ken Gierke / rivrvlogr said...

It's interesting to think that every link in this chain was necessary for us to be where we are. Nicely done.

robkistner said...

Oh my gawd dude, this is massive, powerful, extensive - and fucking increfibly written. I couldn’t stop reading - then I read it again. You just moved another one into my top ten favorites of yours. Inspired my friend!

Unknown said...

I like your metaphor: "great wooly herds/. . . which develop/dark fat sagging bellys."

Frank Hubeny said...

Nice description of water as "artesian goodness".

Victoria Stuart said...

I love the living water moving into reality, all the fractals of its being that we can never see in one sighting. I think I would have been a scientist if I'd had a teacher like you! Beautiful descriptions which really opened my perceptions (and gratitude!)

calmkate said...

You really covered the watershed of evolution in this one, well written!