The term blind creek refers to evidence of a waterway that’s dried up, although water can still be found if you dig far enough. It’s one of more than 800 terms defined in Home Ground: A Guide to the American Landscape. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Blind Creek”
I was talking earlier about the book Homeground, which is a collection of more than 800 terms involving landscape, terms that you won’t see in most dictionaries.
And I wanted to read the entry that was written by Barry Lopez, who was one of the editors. He also won the National Book Award a few years ago for the wonderful nonfiction book Arctic Dreams, which I’m reading now.
I want to read his definition for the term blind creek. He writes,
To most eyes, a dry creek is a place where a creek once flowed, and after a rain will likely flow again. Such a waterway is an ephemeral creek, technically. But by another way of seeing, some such creeks never entirely disappear. A ghost, if you will, holds the creek’s place, moving slowly in darkness below the dry, sun-baked surface. In the mind of a local resident finally attuned to such things, you’ve come upon the invisible but real when you stand above a blind creek. Dig, and the water will come to light, like the blind floor revealed when the carpenter’s floor is taken up. Isn’t that gorgeous? A blind creek.
Right. Also known as an ephemeral creek. Right. So what he’s saying is that if you know that a creek wants to run there, often the water table is just below the surface.
Exactly. And you can find water there. So a wise person will know that you don’t have to go thirsty.
Yes. Yeah. This is a book that I would recommend to poets because there’s so many poetic expressions like that. It is a beautiful book. It’s nice to look at. It’s gorgeous to read.
That’s Home Ground Language for an American Landscape.
