Kate Hawkes
The Water Waits
The water waits
in her wandering bed,
Threading along edges of rising hills,
Over rocky floors
Through parched desert…
Follow a river as it moves through land, season, and presence in The Water Waits by Kate Hawkes. Like water itself, the poem shifts without warning, follows its own course, and continues restlessly. There is no commentary; only close observation, and a language that trusts sound as much as sense.
The structure of the poem mirrors water’s rhythm. Sentences return like swirls, and scenes reappear, shifting fluidly. The pace remains steady, even as the current intensifies. There is no declaration, no climax, only change in its quiet and irreversible form. The river, featured in this poem, is no longer gentle or still. It rises. Its path widens. It grows, and the land around it shifts. Water leaves behind new forms, silence, and absence. There is no abrupt build-up in written structure but a gradual weaving development. As the writing develops, the nature of the water begins to change. There is no symbolic or metaphorical stamp; the river is not something else. It is water in its real and physical terms: unpredictable, alive, present. Humanity appears, but not at the centre. Horses, birds, trees, and people move quietly through its orbit. The speaker does not direct. The river acts on its own terms.
That autonomy echoes Hawkes’ broader approach to working, which blends the grounded with the lyrical, placing the practical alongside the poetic. Her language moves with the current; it flows loudly as if meant to be spoken and perhaps even heard across a stage. The river brings comfort, but also erosion. It welcomes life and carries it along, and when loss follows, it does not stop. What shifts is not intent, but direction.
This poem exists outside of linear time. It does not fix itself to a single era or crisis. Instead, it moves like something older and one that is no longer waiting. The calm here holds weight. The climate crisis is not future tense. The message arrives without being explained. This is not a warning. It is a witness.
There is a quiet kinship with the work of Virginia Woolf, evident in the layering of outer world and inner rhythm, in the trust that meaning will emerge without being pointed out. Hawkes moves through that balance with assurance. The poem does not shout. It invites attention and holds it.
Kate can be heard reading her poem on her website www.wellnesswithkate.com.
Originally from Australia and now based in Arizona, Kate is a published author, playwright, and founder of Red Earth Theatre. Her work spans stage, page, and screen, often exploring ecology, memory, and the body in place. Kate Hawkes’ background in performance, teaching, and theatre direction weaves through her writing. Her experience working with stories, particularly those drawn from real lives, communities, and bodies, has shaped a language that listens first.
Kate Hawkes is the Gold Writer of the ArtAscent Water call for writers. To see the full body of work and profile, get a copy of the 2025 ArtAscent Art & Literature Journal Water issue.
