“Some Rough in the Hand, Some Smooth” by Marge Piercy
On the sill of the window
beside my desk, a row of stones
sits, collected on travels. Like
builders of stone circles – some
grand like Avebury or Stonehenge
most small, just the local rocks
that could be easily moved
into place, but special in their way—
I find some stones liminal, giving
off power like radiation. Some
from famous sites –the Akropolis—
or seldom visited like a temple
only a pile of rubble on a mountain
top in the Peloponisus where not
even a path led to it. A place
where I was struck as if by a rock
where a tribe was massacred
near Chico. A stone circle
where I dozed and woke to wild
moor ponies staring down at me.
One from an Oregon black beach
that felt holy. One with flecks
of garnet from Newcomb Hollow
nearby. One brought from Israel
and given me. When I feel empty
of poems I fondle them, feel
strength seeping into my palms.
They sing for me and I listen.
Copyright 2016 Marge Piercy
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Marge Piercy’s Artist Statement:
Marge Piercy is an American progressive activist and poet and novelist with sustained involvement with feminism, Marxism, and environmental thought.
“I imagine I speak for a constituency, living and dead, and that I give utterance to energy, experience, insight, words flowing from many lives. I have always desired that my poems work for others.”
