there.

rewriting landscape.

 

Glenn Bach

from Atlas Peripatetic

6

 

                                   a front, a boundary


deep slumber of early morning


                                   between masses of air
                                   a thermal, a bubble

 

quiet streets (pre-sun)
pace quiet streets (street sweepers)
pale groan (oily mechanisms)


                                   of rising warm air
                                   of air rising
                                   of warm air rising


                        lamprey lamprey lamprey
                                   traffic enforcement
                                                                      shark, w/lampreys


                                   water vapor within rising thermals,

 

               (shorebirds trail
divebombing pelicans)
           Elgin Pelican broom sweeper


                    debris for miles


slime trails the color of laundry lint / compost for fields in Kern County


                                   condensing to form a cloud


                                                                                       attempt
                                                                                           rain water
                                                                                       penetrate soil
                                                                                           rain water
                                                                                       foiled by thin
                                                                                           rain water
                                                                                       crust of


                                   a cloud over open water


                                               evaporation
                       asphalt and concrete
                                               condensation
                       funneled through
                                               transportation
                       storm drains and grates
                                               precipitation
                       (fluted tributaries)
                                               transpiration
                       (feed tamed rivers)
                                               runoff
                       (flow to the ocean)


The three rivers share a broad, alluvial floodplain.


                reclaimed wastewater
                runoff
                                               river flows
            stronger now


                                               water
                                                          filtered with ozone
                                               water
                                                          disinfected by chlorine


Water table.

Water from twenty-five wells.

Water from the Colorado River.

Owens Valley.

Artesian wells.

November to March.

San Gabriel River watershed.


            (to the sea)

 

            (runoff down down down)

 

            (brown milk mustache at)

 

            (storm drains)

 

            (tide’s edge)


                                               water in perpetual motion


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