POEMS, PROSE, AND PAINTINGS, Viewing Stone Association of North America (VSANA)

June, 2022

Last month, viewers were invited to compose poems about a well-weathered ball-shaped Japanese Makura stone that is in its final stage before breaking participles. Following are some of the poems that this stone inspired.

staring deep

into the stone’s old soul

I have seen

that from a river’s wrath

came the shape of a shell

-an’ya

enucleate how the eye of time

for time has perchance leached

all trace of time away

and demineralized as it is

we can but say we knew not

what it was but what it has become

and in the shell of our mind’s eye

leave all to fickleness and smile

-James Young

earth scientists say

life began in a small pond

a long time ago…

egg shells

spring left behind

by a raptor

-David McMurray

waxing gibbous

my grandma’s gentle bite

of the birthday pudding

-Pravat Kumar Padhy

for all

love and affection

I endure

my fragile fringe

the form of an imprint

-Pravat Kumar Padhy

Makura stone

This hollow feeling

inside

-Valentia Ranaldi-Adams

Makura stone

Earth’s dwindling

resources

-Valentina Ranaldi-Adams

fractured heart

resilient spirit stoops

-Hema Ravi

You are a piece of history

A nature-freak has written paeans

Kissed you, fondled you

A materialistic one trampled upon you

Walked on with prejudice

Your privilege and pride

When a young heart

Squealed in delight

What a chiseled beauty!

-Hema Ravi

broken geode

time peels away

another layer

-Seren Fargo