Tuesday poem #252 : Christy Davids : [The Matter of Holding Water]

we colloquially
refer to greater
Los Angeles at
the LA Basin and
remain surprised
when the rain

comes (because
it will always
come) that the
basin holds water
/ to un-know the
practicality of an

idiom filling up
a geography / cars
pushing through
the places where
the water holds
/ cars stuck there

the curbed rivers
/ full / become a
confused sight
instincts around
water wear out
as logic is turned

on its head: just
because we are
trained for drought
doesn’t mean we
can forget our flooded
city as a bowl holding

water / in the most
literal sense water
for washing / the
logic of water
supplied en
mass / en flood

doesn’t hold water
here (there)

Christy Davids is a poet and teacher. She is an assistant editor at The Conversant, collects recordings at poetry//SOUNDS, and co-curates the Philadelphia-based reading series Charmed Instruments. Some of her work can be found in Volt, Open House, Bedfellows, Jacket2, and the Poetry Foundation's Harriet among others. Her chapbook "on heat" was selected by the editors in BOAAT Press' 2016 chapbook competition and will be published in May 2017. 

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan