Prompt #87 - The Memory of Water

A couple of nights ago I watched a DVD of my favorite British detective series, “Rosemary and Thyme.” I’ve watched all the episodes more than once, and the show I watched that night is my favorite: “The Memory of Water.” As I lay in bed thinking about the show, I segued into thoughts of this week’s prompt. Wide-awake, I reached for the top book on my bedside pile of poetry collections and opened to  Mary Oliver's "Beside the Waterfall." The next book in the pile was Diane Lockward's Temptation by Water (click link to read the title poem: http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/lockwardtemptation.html).

While wading in "water poems," it occurred to me that people have long sought the physical, psychological, religious, and spiritual healing powers of water – at the River Ganges; in the ancient Roman baths; in the spa waters of Bath in Somerset, England; at Mecca's holy spring of Zamzan; in Christian baptisms; at Lourdes in France; and throughout the world at various healing water sites. Continuing to think about water, I remembered reading somewhere that about 70% of the world is covered in water and about 75% of the human body is water. There I was, completely “immersed” in water thoughts and tempted by water (a la Diane's book) to write a "water prompt." 

A few ideas:

Write a poem about a water “experience” you’ve had.

Write a poem about a time that water touched your life in a special/dramatic/exciting way.

Write a poem about a time that water was healing for you.

Write a poem about a memorable rainstorm or hurricane.

Write a poem about the importance of protecting the earth’s water sources.

Write a poem about a landscape in which water is prominent.

Write a poem about a time when you were “transformed” by water.

And on the lighter side:

Write about a time that you went skinny-dipping.

Write about your earliest memory of being in water.

Write about a beach or pool party you attended.

Write a bath poem or a take-off on the old song "Splish Splash."

Write about your life as a fish in a bowl.

Write about a water cooler.

Write about a water fantasy titled “Alice in Waterland.”

Sample Poems

"And Water Lies Plainly" by Laurie Sheck

 "Dishwater" by Ted Kooser

"Going for Water" by Robert Frost

"Water Music" by Robert Creeley

"Water Picture" by May Swenson

"Well Water" by Randall Jarrell

"Portrait of a Figure near Water" by Jane Kenyon

"New Water" by Sharon Chmielarz

And, by way of sharing, here’s a “water poem” that I wrote as an elegy for a friend.

Black River by Adele Kenny

In the almost-dark of a late spring

evening, the air still holds a scent of

moss on dampened stone, the bitter

tang of bluebells.

You are with me because I remember

(the sense of you just over my left

shoulder), a shadow that follows

the light.

This was your place, where the world

should have let you go – here where

the river turns, a fishing pole in your

hand, the back of

your brown flannel shirt slipped from

your belt, your old shoes worn, as

they always were, on the insides

of their heels.

I have come to touch your death with

the palm of my hand, clench my fist

around it, and fling it upstream –

bone ash into space.

Go! Go now! I call down the stars

for your ransom. One by one they

fall into the river, which carries

them all away.

(from What Matters, Welcome Rain Publishers, New York, NY, 2011)


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