Prompt: This stone is learning the ways of man

Continuing the theme I discovered with Los Dave’s marvelous Stone Dead Forever project.

This stone learned the speech of man

Under Socrates' tongue

Tucked in the groove behind the teeth

To slow his speech, smooth the stutter

This stone learned the death of man

In Socrates' hand, rubbed slowly

As the hemlock worked its way

Through his body, numbing from the toes up

Until the fingers lost their grip

And the stone tumbled to the floor

This stone learned the love of man

From a simple servant

who cleaned the rooms

picked up the smoothed stone

tucked it in his pocket

and carried it home to his young wife

her belly round with their first child

This stone learned the joy of man

In children’s games

Learning math and strategy

Music and scientific experimentation

This stone learned the loss of man

Carelessly dropped

By the side of the road

Clipped by hooves

Covered in dung

Buried under mud

Caked in clay

Lying silent

Waiting

Waiting

This stone learned the care of man

Revealed by a slender pick and painter’s brush

Warmed in the sun

Bathed in cool water

Carefully labelled

Artifacts from Athenian Road

This stone learns the variety of man

From under a glass

As men, women, children of all ages, colors, faces

Peer down to study it, as it studies them…

Note:

Oh, rough, rough, rough! Poetry requires far more *crafting* than prose, I think. every word is so carefully chosen! I almost resist sharing this 1st draft, but in the spirit of the blog, here it is, lumpy warts and all!

Dogs in house	Houdini
Music	Spotify Jesse Cook “radio”
Time writing	~20 minutes
February word count	5,400