Mammoth Spring, Arkansas

Water and the history of water

Have lifted the town from the north Arkansas soil,

Attracting first the railroad, then the dam builders,

Then the tourists, then the hawkers,

Then, at long last, attracting me.

Me, with my sickly, aging body,

With my camera and my map,

Prompting me to walk across the dam

Where the water still spills over,

To walk through the enclosure

Where the great machinery  is,

Signs telling of the days

When it was capable of working

The dam’s gates

To control the water.

Me, with my camera and my map,

Prompting me to walk

All around the large pond

To the closed museum train station,

To the falls at the end of the pond

Where the water itself still

Pours out of the north Arkansas ground.

--October 21, 2013

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