deep pockets in the Mount Simon Aquifer,
carved under farms in Western Wisconsin,
hold its oldest vintage water, going back
almost 30,000 years, some of it
collected precipitation from the post-glacial period,
when the ice sheets began their retreat.

the shallow water
is only a thousand years old.
young, fresh water, cycled through clouds
that passed over the prairies before
Europe envied their bounty.

over summer, the historic logging city of Menomonie
lost its water from Mount Simon.
July temperatures in Wisconsin peaked,
drying up lawns, activating all watering systems
simultaneously, draining all three water towers
faster than they could pull from their
ancient bank.

water collected underground for thousands
of years, pumped through hundreds of miles
of municipal pipes and elevated in towers,
all drained in a day, to nourish what the mower
will cut down tomorrow.

Alicia Lee is a Wisconsin-based writer and certified sommelier. She was recently awarded first place in the 2026 Lakefly Poetry Contest. Her work is featured or forthcoming in Slipstream, Gargoyle, Thistle and Thread, One Art, Creative Wisconsin, Mobius and Vintage Wisconsin anthology. Her writing reflects the terroir of Midwest life.