This poem was written for and performed at the 2025 Sustaining Colorado Watersheds Conference by Franklin Cruz.
I’ve been telling folks
The first drop of hope & connection lands here
I’m just paddling along this river life
Caught up by what the river is saying
The river has been speaking this whole time
I am remembering the river
Rivering, remembering, same thing
Remembering, rivering, same thing
Water recognizes humanity’s role in shaping and being shaped
Colorado’s lucky, cradled by the throne of the Rockies
They’re frosted crowns the royal source of all our rivers
Remember everyone, water has known us forever
Despite business as unusual
We come together like never before
Our growing human impacts on watersheds is undeniable
At the same time, our human experiences demand we protect
The memory of first kisses by the water
Families who grew up fishing
And grandma who said put her ashes
By the beavers so she can forever watch them do their thing
Remember water holds memory
All origin stories have water
Our minds cannot remember water
Forgetting to pay our respects
Until the luscious lullaby of the river disappears from the town
The memory of water is difficult to preserve or restore
We nerds care about memorizing
A river’s anatomy
After 20 years these droplets of people
Have confluenced into a powerful network
Reflecting like still pools while envisioning a full future
Bridging connection beyond the banks of change
A long way since 2011 with
Colorado Watershed Assembly
Water Education Colorado
Colorado Riparian Association.
Now all these knowledgeable and engaged citizens
scientists, ecologists, water managers and regulators
Did the remarkable and remembered water
Silly homo sapiens who overcomplicate connection
Same silliness that blocks our connection to water
Scrambling we ask what do we maintain?
What can we build from?
What do we have to “fix”?
Water, what is the new normal?
Come hell or high water
We compel hearts to open like deltas
Connecting forest, agriculture, mining
Anyone who studies rivers
Can account for floods and droughts
We’re in it for the long haul
A color of water that explores the spectrum
Red tape cut down for bountiful projects
Opportunities bright and tasteful as citrus fruit
Yielding results so colorful dandelions bloom on banks
Green vs gray water collabs with water as a stakeholder
Barrier busting beyond boundless beliefs
Industry voices becoming a deep calm pool conversation
Vulnerable valleys of doubt we still face down
A river runs out of it alive
That is the droplet of human element
Us with hands, policy and storytelling
Camping trips compelling enough
To advocate for beavers and cutthroat trout
Making more young riparian registered nerds
Card carrying anglers and biologists
I remember growing up in Texas
Mosquitos be damned I was out there
Making memories that stretched to ColoradoI remember growing up in Texas
Mosquitos be damned I was out there
Making memories that stretched to Colorado
Now I wanna see Kingfishers
Macroinvertebrates and maybe a moose
Still the same water either way
Ain’t that a trip
Water is the same as memory
Is memory the same as hope
Even the moments humans aren’t required to witness
Water is memory
Anything that holds memory is alive
Beyond economy or recreation
Might as well decolonize Colorado river history
Freedom space solutions are possible
A confluence of science and society
Hope is alive
Alive like water
Hope has health, confluences and levees
Might meander and eddy
All water makes it to the sea
All hope eventually does the same
It collects beyond one body
You are a droplet added and flowing along
Down the river life
Like I said I’m just here paddling along
The river has been speaking this whole time
I am remembering the river
Rivering, remembering, same thing
Remembering, rivering, same thing
Print