Friday, September 11, 2020

BALLAST

I was the sort of kid who always

Had several rocks in my pockets

Over time I must have picked up

Quite a large number of them 

Carrying them about for a while 

Putting them in boxes or drawers 

Or releasing them into the wild

In a sheltered space so that 

They'd be safe from predators

And folks who think it a fair joke

To send a rock skipping back

Through the water it had escaped.

My sister's godmother once 

Brought me a stone she'd picked up

In Christ Church meadow. She said 

It would resent being called a rock.

Somehow, I now have two of them 

Each claiming it remembers Oxford.

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