Talking Wells of Acquaviva

Acquaviva delle Fonti Well

I come to where the aquifer
remembers my Italian Grandmother.
For the sake of healing the traumas
of invisibility and silence,
for the sake of healing us both,
I come to drink the water
my Grandmother drank as a child.

Grandmother, I see you.

I come to take my place
in the circle of ancestors.
I take my place in the circle of time
so you can speak to me,
so I can reach to you.
The healing waters weave into one
not only mine but the whole
human family.

Grandmother I see you.

I rekindle connection with you
whose herstory was trivialized.
I name the wounding of women
I sing into the wound
of forgotten female forebears.
Grandmother, by this water
we remake our kinship,
we cultivate belonging.

Grandmother, I see you.

I experience in my body,
where it was you first knew life.
I walk where you walked
and drink the living water
you drank from the places of memory.
And from the mouth of the springs
enshrined beneath in the aquifer,
I embrace your life from long ago.

Grandmother, I see you.