On everyone’s lips – water, words. Drought, flood, tsunami, climate change, no access to…

At the beginning of the 21st Century, across the globe, we are talking about water: the lack of water, drought and fire in Australia; or floods in Indonesia, or Europe, or Africa; or the tsunami that devastated so much of the region. We may be talking of climate change, extreme weather, polluted oceans, rivers, aquifers. Or maybe of how over a billion people do not have access to clean drinking water.  Or maybe we are simply living with the effects of all of this. Sometimes I, who live in rural, drought effected Victoria, contemplate, as I carry buckets of muddy water from a rapidly diminishing dam, what it would be like to do this for every day of my life; what it would be like if this muddy water was intended for domestic use rather than watering the fruit trees.

I remember a time when we did not talk of water in a serious tone. It was delight, fun, pleasure, swimming and picnics, fishing, walking along beaches and breathing the tang of ocean, dreaming into the horizon that only brought wind from the Antarctic, a squall or storm that sailors were able to contend with. We knew of water as that which connects us: how humans and the planet are made up of approximately two thirds of water; of how oceans connect continents and carry travelers and ideas between us. This has not changed, although we certainly would check twice or even thrice before we would throw ourselves into a river or sea. I still stand on a shore and dream into other places.

Water still is a potent symbol of life and renewal. It is elementary to our physical, spiritual and emotional worlds.  Watery jargon fills our life – plain sailing; go with the flow; it’s a beach of a day (Aussie lingo). We know that water connects us, and even more so as it becomes recognized as the precious resource it is. To value all people, we must value water. The rain that falls upon us all, the oceans that sweep our shores, the rivers that carve continents or trickle in ancient earth are the currents that connect us. In this edition so many currents converge - environmental, spiritual, social, emotional. As always with water many streams, originating from many different places, mingle. Susan Hawthorne, Cathie Dunsford and Beryl Fletcher write of environmental impact: Hoa Pham considers the spiritual;  Alvin Pang reflects quixotically on rain; Shalini Akhil contemplates Melbourne’s iconic brown river;  Judith Rodriguez impassioned poems speak of the social crisis that is occurring on the waters we all share; and Azhari’s writes of a family during a time of civil unrest and breaking drought.

There are also Book Reviews, by Karin Meissenburg and Cathie Dunsford, and a gallery of images that I have collected over the past year.

We need water and words to live. May this edition hydrate the head and heart!

berni m janssen

berni is a writer/performer, artsworker and the webspinster and co-ordinator of apwn.