Because This is My First Life
Missoula, MT
2021, Junior, Poetry & Spoken Word
I fell to the earth from my mother, whom we called Cloud.
She’d grown heavy with us, her children. She could no longer
hold onto us. We rained down to the solid ground.
Everyone seemed to know what they were doing
like they’d done it before. It was like their bodies remembered
their destinies of the past. Some trickled into sewers, others
gathered in puddles. Some were left on land
and quickly went back up to mother. Because this was my first life,
or so I thought, I did not know what I was doing.
I had no memories of what I was to do. My fate was
yet to be determined. My body moved on its own—
it was like I had no control. I seeped into the darkness,
otherwise known as Ground; I found myself among the sand
with my water brothers and sisters. Soon enough a hole was drilled,
and daylight poured down on us. Unknowingly we were
pumped from the ground, by something called a well. This is where
I ended up in, what I think is, my first lifetime. I’ll be with my
mother soon, and this process will repeat again,
soon.
Reflection
Reflection
I have always loved being in another person's shoes, but with this prompt, I thought that it would be a new, refreshing idea to write something from the perspective of a water droplet. Writing this, I thought, "How will a water droplet's life be different in the future, when so much has changed?" It was truly jaw-dropping to think of all the possibilities to answer this question. I would like this piece to cause readers to ponder and ask questions. From this project, I have learned how wells function and how groundwater forms. Going forward, I will do all that is in my capacity to improve our Earth and its water.