by David Antin

if the ground under your feet is wet, the sky is to blame
before you buy shoes, make sure you measure your feet
if you doubt what you hear, you can’t believe what you see
it’s as difficult to recover the past as to pick up spilled water
every needle has a point
if there’s a car ahead of you in a fog, you can follow its lights, but
not too closely
no matter how tall you are, your legs still touch the ground
if you’re always in a hurry, you’ll never arrive on time
a person who walks in a straight line and a person who walks in a
curved line will never arrive at the same place
you can tell it on the mountain, but whisper it in the valley
if the morning is sunny, the evening can still bring clouds
a festival for some people is a traffic problem for others
time is a hallway we never get out of, except at the end
a question may be an answer to a question as an answer may
     be a question to an answer
a system of values may be nothing more than an accountant’s
     dream
it’s hard to be a bystander in a storm
the country is where the food is, but the city is where the money is
the fool will not believe you because your story is too complicated
     the educated man will not believe you because your story is
     too simple
there is no fact as unlikely as a giraffe
when you’re caught in the rain you’ll remember you forgot your
     umbrella
don’t climb a tree to look for fish
when you’re climbing a mountain don’t step back
if you’re holding a tool in your hand, it’s also holding you by the hand
you can’t use paint to cover a hole in the wall
there are two sides to every wall
if you don’t drink, the price of wine doesn’t matter
if you stand on a mountain top nothing is likely to fall on your head
if you go underground you may not have enough light
until you get in the water you don’t know what it’s like to swim

by Daphne Marlatt

wha – ? black wall of waters
rolling in
– ter urban
seawet wreckage after
missing, dead

          27,000 up to 28 —
          and climbing

nowhere now
inundate land rocked
evacuate from X –
posed radiant
no eye

           or iodine
           3000 times
           the safe

er, sievert language lost in
corporate face
saving hours exposed

          boots to no avail

control the news
4 hours worth of 1
sievert per —
x – ed out

let alone the sea
reactors leak
into the what the wa
– ter wheel we bound

this rim this local now
our living water bodies
reading in

by Daphne Marlatt

thunder rain for hours while
standing hills drink in and under
evanescent

sprinkler jets on the already
soused lawn in the still
of the morning after

systems on automatic

turn on the tap, brush
teeth in a drench of thought
elsewhere, always north or
west of us the rivers drying

by Daphne Marlatt

moon on wave
on moons wavering
water

                   moan a
                  move on

mooning the
singular

                   crescent

or full it

           shatters

ah, wave wavering waves
(s