Silver Birches Beach

May the Waters Return 

We gather with friends to marvel, play and understand/ withstand the happenings of water’s edge in the Humber Valley: from Grand Lake to Deer Lake, flowing West, narrowing through Maqtukwek, to the mouth of the Humber, greeting the Tidal waters of the Bay of Islands, from the cold (now warmer) Seas of the North Atlantic. 

We witnessed the Waters recede quickly. We visit the newly extensive sand bars of Silver Birches to ask them what they are doing.  They, the Waters?  Or they… their self-proclaimed masters? Corner Brook Pulp & Paper Mill, Kruger Energy, Deer Lake Power,  Newfoundland & Labrador Hydro, what are you doing to River? What are you going to do next? Why lead with greed and depravity? Are you not reliant on the wealth and wellness of Water?

We gather at Water’s receding edge to witness her teachings. Summer drought. The fountains dry up, the mosses brown, and the trees choke, infested, they begin to burn.  

We cease all relations with fire and hold our breath. 

We hold our breath at Water’s edge all summer, mumbling to each other, documenting, remarking. 

As fires rage, logging stops, the paper mill shuts down, the hydro-electric dam loiters, and water is held; captured by great gates. The river slows, evaporating in the entropy of neglectful circumstances.  

Sandy shorelines reveal themselves. 40 - 100-year-old maimed and waterlogged trees and human garbage are surfacing.  Yes, a past resurfaced.  The novelty and irony of history “appearing” in “unprecedented times” to tell its tale of industrial extraction and corruption of our place in earth’s workings.  

These log fossils hold close a forest of ancestors, as they dispel encounters with the human’s over-harvest, abandon, waste & industry.  The refugees of the river floor,  preserved in great masses, are covered for decades by the sluices of control.  

We dialogue about trash & fish. Warm Waters. 

The river logs are harvested for a second time. This time as a remnant.  Imprints of industry & artifacts that are exhumed & collected. Coffee tables and fence posts made from our unprecedented times. 

Airs thicken  Waters warm    Rains cease  Forests dry  Fires rage     Brooks trickle 

 industry dictates    governments suppress    institutions program     humans consume & comply

 Plants, Crawlies, Animals… disappear

How are you feeling when Water’s subside?  Forests burn? Bog crisps? 

I yearn for you-  Water/Soul - 

May my children never be without you.