oneWe come into the world.We come into the world and there it is.The sun is there.The brown of the river leading to the blue and the brown of theocean is there.Salmon and eels are there moving between the brown and thebrown and the blue.The green of the land is there.Elders and youngers are there.We come into the world and we are there.Fighting and possibility and love are there.And we begin to breathe.We come into the world and there it is.We come into the world without and we breathe it in.We come into the world and begin to move between the brown andthe blue and the green of it. twoWe came into the world at the edge of a stream.The stream had no name but it began from a spring and floweddown a hill into the Scioto that then flowed into the Ohio that thenflowed into the Mississippi that then flowed into the Gulf of Mexico.The stream was a part of us and we were a part of the stream and wewere thus part of the rivers and thus part of the gulfs and the oceans.And we began to learn the stream.We looked under stones for the caddisfly larvae and its adhesive.We counted the creek chub and we counted the slenderhead darter.We learned to recognize the large, upright, dense, candle-likeclusters of yellowish flowers at the branch ends of the horsechestnutand we appreciated the feathery gracefulness of the drooping, butupturning, branchlets of the larch.We mimicked the catlike meow, the soft quirrt or kwut, and thelouder, grating ratchet calls of the gray catbird.We put our heads together.We put our heads together with all these things, with the caddisflylarva, with the creek chub and the slenderhead darter, with thehorsechestnut and the larch, with the gray catbird.We put our heads together on a narrow pillow, on a stone, on anarrow stone pillow, and we talked to each other all day longbecause we loved.We loved the stream.And we were of the stream.And we couldn’t help this love because we arrived at the bank of thestream and began breathing and the stream was various and full ofinformation and it changed our bodies with its rotten with its coldwith its clean with its mucky with fallen leaves with its things thatbite the edges of the skin with its leaves with its sand and dirt withits pungent at moments with its dry and prickly with its warmth withits mushy and moist with its hard flat stones on the bottom with itshorizon lines of gently rolling hills with its darkness with its dappledlight with its cicadas buzz with its trills of birds. threeThis is where we learned love and where we learned depth andwhere we learned layers and where we learned connectionsbetween layers.We learned and we loved the black sandshell, the ash, the americanbittern, the harelip sucker, the yellow bullhead, the beech, the greatblue heron, the dobsonfly larva, the water penny larva, the birch, theredhead, the white catspaw, the elephant ear, the buckeye, the kingeider, the river darter, the sauger, the burning bush, the commonmerganser, the limpet, the mayfly nymph, the cedar, the turkeyvulture, the spectacle case, the flat floater, the cherry, the red tailedhawk, the longnose gar, the brook trout, the chestnut, the killdeer,the river snail, the giant floater, the chokeberry, gray catbird, therabbitsfoot, the slenderhead darter, the crabapple, the americanrobin, the creek chub, the stonefly nymph, the dogwood, thewarbling vireo, the sow bug, the elktoe, the elm, the marsh wren,the monkeyface, the central mudminnow, the fir, the gray-cheekedthrush, the white bass, the predaceous diving beetle, the hawthorn,the scud, the salamander mussel, the hazelnut, the warbler, themapleleaf, the american eel, the hemlock, the speckled chub,the whirligig beetle larva, the hickory, the sparrow, the caddisflylarva, the fluted shell, the horse chestnut, the wartyback, the whiteheelsplitter, the larch, the pine grosbeak, the brook stickleback, theriver redhorse, the locust, the ebonyshelf, the giant water bug, themaple, the eastern phoebe, the white sucker, the creek heelsplitter,the mulberry, the crane fly larva, the mountain madtom, the oak,the bank swallow, the wabash pigtoe, the damselfly larva, thepine, the stonecat, the kidneyshell, the plum, the midge larva, theeastern sand darter, the rose, the purple wartyback, the narrow-winged damselfly, the spruce, the pirate perch, the threehornwartyback, the sumac, the black fly larva, the redside dace, thetree-of-heaven, the orange-foot pimpleback, the dragonfly larva,the walnut, the gold fish, the butterfly, the striped fly larva, thewillow, the freshwater drum, the ohio pigtoe, the warmouth, themayfly nymph, the clubshell.And this was just the beginning of the list.Our hearts took on many things.Our hearts took on new shapes, new shapes every day as we went tothe stream every day.Our hearts took on the shape of well-defined riffles and pools, cleansubstrates, woody debris, meandering channels, floodplains, andmature streamside forests.Our hearts took on the shape of the stream and became riffled andcalmed and muddy and clean and flooded and shrunken dry.Our hearts took on the shape of whirligigs swirling across the water.We shaped our hearts into the sycamore trees along the side of thestream and we let into our hearts the long pendulous polygamousracemes of its small green flowers, the first-formed male flowerswith no pistil and then the later arriving hairy ovary with its twocurved stigmas.We let ourselves love the one day of the adult life of the mayfly as itswarms, mates in flight, and dies all without eating.And we shaped our hearts into the water willow and into the eggsspawned in the water willow.Our hearts took on the brilliant blues, reds, and oranges of breedingmale rainbow darter and our hearts swam to the female rainbowdarter and we poked her side with our snout as she buried herselfunder the gravel and we laid upon her as she vibrated.We let leaves and algae into our hearts and then we let the mollusksand the insects and we let the midge larvae into our heart and thenthe stonefly nymph and then a minnow came into our heart and withit a bass and then we let the blue heron fly in, the raccoon amble by,the snapping turtle and the watersnake also.We immersed ourselves in the shallow stream. We lied down on therocks on our narrow pillow stone and let the water pass over us andour heart was bathed in glochida and other things that attach to theflesh.And as we did this we sang.We sang gentle now.Gentle now clubshell,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now warmouth, mayfly nymph,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now willow, freshwater drum, ohio pigtoe,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now walnut, gold fish, butterfly, striped fly larva,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now black fly larva, redside dace, tree-of-heaven, orange-foot pimpleback, dragonfly larva,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now purple wartyback, narrow-winged damselfly, spruce,pirate perch, threehorn wartyback, sumac,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now pine, stonecat, kidneyshell, plum, midge larva, easternsand darter, rose,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now creek heelsplitter, mulberry, crane fly larva, mountainmadtom, oak, bank swallow, wabash pigtoe, damselfly larva,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now pine grosbeak, brook stickleback, river redhorse, locust,ebonyshelf, giant water bug, maple, eastern phoebe, white sucker,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now whirligig beetle larva, hickory, sparrow, caddisfly larva,fluted shell, horse chestnut, wartyback, white heelsplitter, larch,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now white bass, predaceous diving beetle, hawthorn, scud,salamander mussel, hazelnut, warbler, mapleleaf, american eel,hemlock, speckled chub,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now stonefly nympth, dogwood, warbling vireo, sow bug,elktoe, elm, marsh wren, monkeyface, central mudminnow, fir,gray-cheeked thrush,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now longnose gar, brook trout, chestnut, killdeer, river snail,giant floater, chokeberry, gray catbird, rabbitsfoot, slenderheaddarter, crabapple, american robin, creek chub,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now king eider, river darter, sauger, burning bush, commonmerganser, limpet, mayfly nymph, cedar, turkey vulture, spectaclecase, flat floater, cherry, red tailed hawk,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now black sandshell, ash, american bittern, harelip sucker,yellow bullhead, beech, great blue heron, dobsonfly larva, waterpenny larva, birch, redhead, white catspaw, elephant ear, buckeye,don’t add to heartache.Gentle now, we sang,Circle our heart in rapture, in love-ache. Circle our heart. fourIt was not all long lines of connection and utopia.It was a brackish stream and it went through the field beside ourhouse.But we let into our hearts the brackish parts of it also.Some of it knowingly.We let in soda cans and we let in cigarette butts and we let in pinktampon applicators and we let in six pack of beer connectors andwe let in various other pieces of plastic that would travel throughthe stream.And some of it unknowingly.We let the run off from agriculture, surface mines, forestry, homewastewater treatment systems, construction sites, urban yards,and roadways into our hearts.We let chloride, magnesium, sulfate, manganese, iron, nitrite/nitrate, aluminum, suspended solids, zinc, phosphorus, fertilizers,animal wastes, oil, grease, dioxins, heavy metals and lead gothrough our skin and into our tissues.We were born at the beginning of these things, at the time ofchemicals combining, at the time of stream run off.These things were a part of us and would become more a part of usbut we did not know it yet.Still we noticed enough to sing a lament.To sing in lament for whoever lost her elephant ear lost hermountain madtomand whoever lost her butterfly lost her harelip suckerand whoever lost her white catspaw lost her rabbitsfootand whoever lost her monkeyface lost her speckled chuband whoever lost her wartyback lost her ebonyshelland whoever lost her pirate perch lost her ohio pigtoe lost herclubshell. fiveWhat I did not know as I sang the lament of what was becoming lostand what was already lost was how this loss would happen.I did not know that I would turn from the stream to each other.I did not know I would turn to each other.That I would turn to each other to admire the softness of eachother’s breast, the folds of each other’s elbows, the brightnessof each other’s eyes, the smoothness of each other’s hair, theevenness of each other’s teeth, the firm blush of each other’s lips,the firm softness of each other’s breasts, the fuzz of each other’sdown, the rich, ripe pungency of each other’s smell, all of it, eachother’s cheeks, legs, neck, roof of mouth, webbing between thefingers, tips of nails and also cuticles, hair on toes, whorls onfingers, skin discolorations.I turned to each other.Ensnared, bewildered, I turned to each other and from the stream.I turned to each other and I began to work for the chemicalfactory and I began to work for the paper mill and I began to workfor the atomic waste disposal plant and I began to work atkeeping men in jail.I turned to each other.I didn’t even say goodbye elephant ear, mountain madtorn, butterfly,harelip sucker, white catspaw, rabbitsfoot, monkeyface, speckledchub, wartyback, ebonyshell, pirate perch, ohio pigtoe, clubshell.I replaced what I knew of the stream with Lifestream TotalCholesterol Test Packets, with Snuggle Emerald Stream FabricSoftener Dryer Sheets, with Tisserand Aromatherapy Aroma-Stream Cartridges, with Filter Stream Dust Tamer, and Streamzap PCRemote Control, Acid Stream Launcher, and Viral Data Stream.I didn’t even say goodbye elephant ear, mountain madtorn, butterfly,harelip sucker, white catspaw, rabbitsfoot, monkeyface, speckledchub, wartyback, ebonyshell, pirate perch, ohio pigtoe, clubshell.I put a Streamline Tilt Mirror in my shower and I kept a crystalSerenity Sphere with a Winter Stream view on my dresser.I didn’t even say goodbye elephant ear, mountain madtorn, butterfly,harelip sucker, white catspaw, rabbitsfoot, monkeyface, speckledchub, wartyback, ebonyshell, pirate perch, ohio pigtoe, clubshell.I bought a Gulf Stream Blue Polyester Boat Cover for my 14-16 FootV-Hull Fishing boat with beam widths up to sixty-eight feet and Italked about value stream management with men in suits over a desk.I didn’t even say goodbye elephant ear, mountain madtorn, butterfly,harelip sucker, white catspaw, rabbitsfoot, monkeyface, speckledchub, wartyback, ebonyshell, pirate perch, ohio pigtoe, clubshell.I just turned to each other and the body parts of the other suddenlyglowed with the beauty and detail that I had found in the stream.I put my head together on a narrow pillow and talked with each otherall night long.And I did not sing.I did not sing otototoi; dark, all merged together, oi.I did not sing groaning words.I did not sing otototoi; dark, all merged together, oi.I did not sing groaning words.I did not sing o wo, wo, wo!I did not sing I see, I see.I did not sing wo, wo!