Agraria Journal Winter 2021

Nothing in the world is as soft and yielding as water. Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible, nothing can surpass it. —Tao Te Ching, Stephen Mitchell’s translation I went to the creek that had never taken up arms or shouted words. It didn’t get up to greet me but greeted me—and I grew ashamed of my standing, and kneeled. I watched its thousand eyes heard its hundred tongues felt the woven flow of its infinite and singular lifeforce. I wanted to return to its level but I couldn’t lift myself that low. Jacoby Creek BY AUDREY HACKETT Audrey Hackett is a poet and former reporter. She lives with her husband and dog in Yellow Springs, where she tries to follow the way of water.