Abstract

"Aqueduct" is a long prose poem composed of fragments. The fragments include poetry and prose quotations, a translation of a prose poem, essays, ideas and information borrowed from fiction and non fiction magazines and newspapers, information gathered from speaking with many people informally about water, and drawn from my own personal experience. The speaker of "Aqueduct" addresses her translation of Octavio Paz's prose poem, My Life with the Wave, and the water-related thoughts that fill her mind. "Aqueduct" is modeled structurally on Reader's Block by David Markson. The following are some of the authors, artists, and scientists whose work and ideas I have incorporated into my manuscript: Robert Ballard, Charles Baudelaire, Mechilta Behallach, Janine M Benyus, Harold Bloom, Anne Carson, Annie Dillard, Marilyn Dumont, Douglas Haldane, Homer, Ivan Illich, Deepa Mehta, Herman Melville, Roger Reville, Rainer Maria Rilke, Christopher Smart, Harry Standjofski, Marina Tsvetaeva, Walt Whitman, Eliza Azelia Williams, Judith T. Zeitlan.