Ephemeral Waters

EphemeralWaters is a book-length poem, told by an Australiantraveller, which follows the once-great Colorado River from its source in thecentral Rocky Mountains, through the American Southwest and the Sonoran Desertof Mexico, to its historical delta in the Gulf of California. It incorporatesfragments drawn from geological surveys, archival documents, films, interviewsand personal conversations: the voices woven through it range from John WesleyPowell, the leader of the first party to raft through the Grand Canyon, tomovie star John Wayne and contemporary park rangers. The result is a polyphonicpoem, both local and global in scope, embodying an Australian preoccupationwith water in taking the over-taxed Colorado as a prophetic example of a riversystem in crisis