Maybe I've spent too long on the beach but I've begun to wonder about stones...
It's good to know I'm not alone, here's an extract from a fascinating Mary Oliver poem challenging us to think differently about the world around us.
Do Stones Feel?
Mary Oliver
Do stones feel?
Do they love their life?
Or does their patience drown out everything else?
When I walk on the beach I gather a few
white ones, dark
ones, the multiple colors.
Don’t worry, I say, I’ll bring you back, and I do.
I won't print the whole poem for copyright reasons but you can find it in her collection "Blue Horses".
Another provocative poem about stones is this one by Charles Simic and again I give you a taster
Stone
Charles Simic
Go inside a stone
That would be my way.
Let somebody else become a dove
Or gnash with a tiger’s tooth.
I am happy to be a stone.
From Selected Early Poems by Charles Simic. Copyright ©
1999, 2012 by Charles Simic.
Naturally I have begun to write my own stone poems and will add a few here as they emerge.
Set in Stone
Sally
Givertz
Look!
These
stones fit as if they were meant
The way
that one is bent into the other’s curve
Sure, one’s
much bigger than the other
And it’s
not an obvious match
But when
you see them leant together
It’s as if
a patch of sky had found its perfect cloud
They don’t
declare undying love aloud
They’re not
just a load of hot air
Because
they’re actually stones
It would be
fair to say that -
At least in
time-strapped human terms
Their love
is here to stay
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