These Burning Stones

Published by Cadillac Press, 2007

Several of these poems have won prizes in contests.  This was one of them.

Communion

Stones line my
pockets
anchor me

On bad days
I roll the warm bits
of granite and marble
in my mouth,
taste the shape
of each word:
camphor, licorice, sweet
wintergreen

Good days
the rocks fire
red, fan to white heat, explode
shatter
splinter
those shards drag through
my stomach, heart, lungs slice
my throat rip
my mouth
and I tear
at my body
until the blood
of words splat
onto my notepad

Days
words don’t come at all –
those days I grieve

Those days the stones
hibernate
like frozen grapes
in the corners of my
coat
Those days
I wander by the stream

and commune with those passed

who also
lined their
pockets
with stones

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