Poetry of Issue #7        Page 24

Water Wild

Water is life.
So drink.
But in the stream

Water Wild is dangerous today,
not with the sudden storm, rapids, flash floods,
and volatile changes in heat and its drastic withdrawal;

not only these, but with new unseen germs

and older, louder ones polluting all
requiring potions only poets, in the short run,
can provide. In the long run, of course,
some seas of impending blood to match such fury
will take care of the fire and dismal din.

But till then, boil your water first, or drop the pill
that kills the sickness. Then
and only then, when in the woods
or wilderness, can you and I
drink the water, today,
and partake of discourse, friendship, even life.

  James B. Nicola