by Adelia Ritchie
Hydration Prophecy
Surfacing in the Permian
265 million years ago:
only water has existed that long
to envelope and cradle
each pollywog growing steady, wriggling free
to eventually absorb its own tail
then find a way among loam and humus.
When spring stays true
puddles, ponds of melt and rain
alchemize to embryonic fluid:
past, present and future appear
once again.
Green tree frog, gray tree frog
revisit the ground
answering the call of those already
sodden, 500 feet away:
spring peeper, eastern cricket frog—
They remember songs sung
praising unions of hydrogen, oxygen
high in the fathomless sky,
rejoice in the ability to answer
hunger’s call, wet and wriggling:
air bellowing under skin,
its cutaneous exchange
through muscle and ligament
instructing the release of seed.
Green frog, pickerel frog
eggs that float and dip—
then the flex, grip, shift, spread
of gametes to welcome the melding.
Two hundred sixty-five million times
they have hopped their way back
for mother water to adore them
once again.
Loralee Clark’s latest chapbook, Solemnity Rites, (Prolific Pulse Press, 2025) is an account of reimagined myths and truths of who we are as humans and how we live our histories. She has a chapbook forthcoming, Neolithic Imaginings: Mythical Explorations of the Unknown (Kelsay Press, 2026). Clark resides in Virginia; her website is sites.google.com/view/loraleeclark. She is on Substack (nosuchthingasfailure.substack.com) and Instagram (@make13experiment).
Adelia Ritchie is a scientist, editor, author, and watercolor artist. Her works have been published on Substack and Medium.com, and in both El Residente and Salish Magazine, where she is currently managing editor. Her recent books, Quito and the Galápagos: A Bucket List Adventure, The Accidental Expat: A Costa Rican Adventure, and An Accidental Masterpiece: Poems from a Colorful Life, were inspired by lifelong global adventures. She is a principal editor of Timeless Voices: A Poetry Anthology, a testament to the legacy of my mentor and friend, Nancy Rekow of Bainbridge Island, WA. When she’s not writing, she relaxes with watercolors, painting everything from botanical illustrations and graphics for magazines to intuitive and neurographic abstracts. Formerly from the great Pacific Northwest, she currently resides in the Southern Zone of Costa Rica.