Guest Reflections in Poetry

Stacking Stones
I 
I stack the stones by size 
until they rise to five feet 
like donuts stacked on a stick
why can't I ask you 
force myself into your eyes  
like I force the rocks to obey gravity?
II 
Let me love you 
like the rocks love each other 
smooth faces pressed together
unbreathing 
their imperfections 
save them. 
III
We count them 
and hope for an answer
rake the sand around them 
make them uneven 
we hear their talk in our sleep. 
IV
The rocks are not so much rocks but
different colors bathing the sand 
we stack the color and 
raise a myth 
when we retell it. 

V
We stack fire 
the fire heats the stone 
a single bird chirps in a tree
we can never find it 
it burns our ears. 
VI 
The caption reads like a prescription 
stack the stones like this 
we do not read instructions. 
VII
Stone strikes stone
a kind of music
music that can kill 
we listen to our heart beats when we dream 
the sound of the stone kills our sleep.
VIII 
There is no gravity when we dream 
rocks of fire, stone
the bird has learned to sound like a rock 
he answers us 
we hear what we want to hear.  
[copyright 2002-2006 by Daniel W. Rasmus,
all rights reserved.
This poem was first published by
the Red River Review]