LIVING WATERS
Water Stories Project, Arts is for Everybody, Phillips County, AR
From Water Stories Project: the Voices of Phillips County, AR Organized by Faye Duncan Daniels Presented in conjunction with Andrea Gluckman’s ~ Where the Waters Meet: Relic Boundaries in the Arkansas Delta ~ at the Delta Cultural Center, Helena, AR. (PS: go see soon -- on view for only 2 more weeks, until Feb 28). Intro: Living Waters grew out of the Water Stories Project, a collection of Phillips County community stories and memories related to water. Community members formed poetry groups and held spoken word performances based on water stories, which spawned new modalities of artistic expression about water. This collection of poems is one of those iterations, as well as a gospel and poetry production, "Living Waters," all of which is part of the Arts for EveryBody campaign. “Every story is a story of water.” --Natalie Diaz "Water needs many biographers, because in truth, it is not a personality but more like a culture to itself, with laws, arts, and a unique history and geography." --Philip Ball
LIVING WATERS
~~~Arts is for Everybody, Phillips County, AR~~~ (c) 2024 Faye Duncan Daniel and Authors of Living Waters Photos (c) 2026 Andrea Gluckman *please do not republish or reprint without permission of artists*
Water is Everything Here
WATER IS EVERYTHING HERE By Gray Davidson Carroll 1 Jesus met the woman at the well and gave her water. Auntie taught niece how to boil water. Father made sure family never went to bed without the water bucket being filled. Collected the rainwater in barrels for animals, for washing clothes, Have to pump the water. Have to have water to prime the pump. But believe me, there's nothing better than pumped water. The land moves uniquely here, Where the St Francis ties into the Mississippi. We owe everything to that river. Fishing holes and fishing lakes, Levees and levee roads High road, low road Crowley's Ridge stretching from Missouri to the edge of Helena 2 Water is everything here. We boil water every day and every night before bed. Here we know unboiled water makes kids sick, boil water for drinking and for babies' bottles playing in puddles when we were little, because we didn't have pools to swim in. We used to swim in ditches after rain. Water tastes and smells like chemicals here — gravel in it like the silt, the sandy bottom of the river. There are churches here — a church on every corner. What this place looks like is different depending on whose histories get told. 3 The air smells uniquely here- Cotton seed oil and fertilizer, Sticky sweat of humidity too many chemicals- the gas, burning, burning the trash the fields. The earth tastes uniquely here The catfish and barbecue, the dirt and field peas, okra and tomatoes. The sky sounds uniquely here- the geese and crop dusters, the talk and tractors, barges and trucks, the thunder the rain the singing singing singing. The earth looks uniquely here- cotton and cotton gins, wildflowers blowing in the wind. We need good, clean water for fishing, and flushing, for showering and washing, for keeping the house clean, for making tea and lemonade. Water is everything here.
Inspired by Water
INSPIRED BY WATER By Faye Duncan Daniel I saw the Mighty Mississippi River gasping for air, no rain for months, her banks sandy and crying from neglect I stood silently, depression sinking into the bottom of my soul I was dispirited - my mortal human soul cried out - Oh mighty Mississippi, oh mighty Mississippi, how I wish you had more water. The river scorned back: "Human, I am the mighty Mississippi River, how dare you pity me!! I am the mighty Mississippi, I flow. I have flowed for millions of years, some lean, some mean, but I still flowed. This is not my first drought, nor my last I always return to my glory - keep on walking my banks and watch me I am the mighty Mississippi river I flow, I flow." It was the great African American poet Langston Hughes who said, "I've known Rivers.” While I am getting to know rivers, I have seen the great Nile and flew the length of the Amazon and dipped my fingers into her swirling waters I live on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi River. Her curves astound me, her color mesmerizes me, her flow stimulates me- The Mighty Mississippi River, my love.
Water Water Everywhere… And Not a Drop to Drink
WATER WATER EVERYWHERE...
AND NOT A DROP TO DRINK
by Linda Duncan
Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink
Man is destroying this precious gift-what do you think?
Dirty pipes, pollution, and industrial waste
Has destroyed what was good at a devastating pace.
At home we feel like we are in a rat’s race
Rusty, muddy, dirty pipe lines that need to be replaced.
How did these problems come to be?
No showering. No drinking. No feeding our crops
And these boil water orders - have got to STOP!
To drink a glass of water and catch a disease
Is a condition that none of us want to achieve.
We deserve clean water! Do you agree?
If you want to see prevention...then join with me.
We deserve clean water. If you think this is true,
Tell me then...what are you willing to do?
Let's march and protest...ONCE!
NO!
Write a letter or two-Speak up and speak out.
That's what we ALL can do.
Tell your mayor-all your elected team
That on our behalf they must act to redeem.
OUR WATER SUPPLY!
Needs to be addressed-so I write this letter today
To PROTEST!
Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink.
Sincerely, Humanity
SINCERELY, HUMANITY
by Jeff Dyer
On a spiritual path,
getting free,
the Living Waters of The Holy Spirit
gently roll over you and me.
With this flow,
We
can erode the wrath
of the ego
which prevents learning from others,
one another.
Sisters, brothers,
rushing through our days,
not aware of our divinity,
we only feel hints of the deep waters swirling beneath the surface.
Let us get still in our practice
and dive into our purpose.
Deeply within, without a rope and bucket,
greater than the water from Jacob's well,
we can drink and not be thirsty again.
Read John 4 verse 14
with an open heart and mind
and be free
in eternity.
May practice, using spiritual tools
laid at our feet,
open doors to cool,
refreshing waters,
to forest pools,
a sacred place within.
Distracted?
Get focused,
meditate,
and return to the breath
again and again.
In all of our adversity,
we are not alone.
This right here could be a divine opportunity
to help one another get over
any strife in our community
and be givers more than takers,
giving of ourselves freely
like the water of life we read about
in Revelation and in Isaiah 12 and 3.
The Living Waters Choir sings of unity
and of drinking deeply from the fountain of salvation.
This is our foundation
from which we grow,
from which we get help,
and know
stillness amidst the turbulence.
When quiet and still
and not shouting and so loud,
not going with the crowd,
we become intentional I
n realizing and utilizing
the intelligences,
the waters of our minds.
They are rippling through us,
and with clarity of reality,
we better communicate,
more love,
negating hate,
conquering darkness
within our families
and all human beings.
This may be a love letter to the river,
but with love it is of protest and resistance.
To the waters traveling along our banks,
we love you and all that you provide.
Because of you,
we are nourished and can flourish,
knowing,
as we read Romans 8:9,
The Spirit dwells in us.
Where The Higher Power resides,
we become confident in our cry
for justice.
Together, we prosper, we thrive,
and as long as we're living,
as long as we're alive,
this love letter and all expressions of poetry
will be written eternally.
Sincerely,
Humanity
Untitled
UNTITLED
by Faye Duncan Daniel
Some places have man-made monuments to mark their past,
some have historians, pen in hand.
Helena has the Mighty Mississippi, watering and nourishing the land.
Upon us, she makes no demands, but respect it we must.
We, on the other hand, have dammed, diverted,
commercialized and converted her waters.
it is all temporary, she still has her flow.
cyclical as it may be, she does not need you or me
She is our visible contact with the divine.
(c) 2024 Authors of Living Waters
~~~Lower Mississippi River Dispatch No. 1019~~~ Since 1995 ~ “Voice of the Lower Mississippi River” ~Quapaw Canoe Company, Clarksdale, Mississippi~
John, this is an excellent Substack, and I really appreciate all your efforts to connect people with the river and tell its story. I would like to repost some of this in my substack, riverlorian.substack.com. I really appreciate your artistry and I hope we can get together soon.
I wanted to make sure you are aware of Chris Jones' Substack and his run for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture. https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/01/15/water-quality-advocate-chris-jones-launches-run-for-iowa-secretary-of-agriculture/. Since Iowa sends so much shit (literally and figuratively) to the Lower Mississippi, I think it would help his campaign a great deal to hear from concerned people downriver. Christine Curry and other 1 Mississippi folks are gaining momentum to lobby for agricultural change in Iowa, so the timing is right to let them hear from you and any Lower Mississippi groups that would prefer the Upper Mississippi states keep their nitrogen and chemicals on the fields, not in the river. https://substack.com/@riverraccoon?utm_source=substack-feed-item