went out to the lake this weekend
& down to the beach (not to swim), but the beach did not appear: steps led down into & under water – water still hi still threatens to flood in spring; & now the adjutant general of the kansas national guard informs us excess water hasn’t evap’d; & look for more snow & rain & probably floods; maybe another $15 m in damage to infrastructure? maybe another 1.3 b gallons of sewage flowing into the kaw, source of water for cities up and down it; the guard still trucking in 40k gal daily to one town near here; “it’s not just that, ‘oh, it’s going to be wetter, or it’s going to be dryer.’ but it’s that the rain that does arrive is going to be arriving at different times in the year and at different intensities,” sez the senior policy analyst, & he’s already right. moreover, kansas water office sez: 4 eastern ks. reservoirs are 40% silt & sediment: that’s 40% less water to pump, 40% less room for stormwater; & don’t get me started on what flooding does to toxic waste sites . . . but hey you could be in venice hit by a record 3rd king tide in a week; st. mark’s sq. = st. mark’s lake = closed to public; elsewhere in italy swollen rivers, avalanches already; ditto austria, w/snow, to boot; sheffield in u.k.: wettest autumn ever; worcestershire, gloucestershire, midlands, york – flooding all around farmers in canada blow-dry waterlogged crops; soybeans in india ruined by monsoons, winter planting prevented; while in nigeria, flooding displaces 19k people: “stranded populations are running short of food and those who can afford it are paying high sums to be transported to the other areas, putting their lives at risk crossing the river or running for safety” (you’ll pay high sums, too, if you’ll be able to afford it, too) anchorage gets record for snow & rain – & warmth, all on saturday; record-breaking heat in hawai’i; heatwave across australia & bushfires continue to burn (smoky old sydney); meanwhile, $40 m hail damage on sunshine coast; still a drought in southern africa; waters still hi in somalia & talk of famine, 370k homeless maybe walk into the water maybe walk into the drink maybe wash away all my sins maybe just stand at the brink
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |