ARIADNE DEL ARROYO.
I am calm whenever near a body of water.
Stream is the surname
I chose for myself,
my maternal grandmother’s maiden name,
not the patriarch’s legacy.
I carry water in me.
Sometimes you carry a legacy
and sometimes it carries you.
When I was waterfilled with grief,
I thought I could poke myself
like a balloon so that all my contents
came spilling out and then hang myself
out to dry like a rag on a clothesline.
I learned to listen to the sound of rain
or a rushing waterfall and match
the pitch of my beating heart to the flow.
All my rivers lead back to the source.