Tuesday, July 28, 2009

taught to throw (Free Write A: Draft 3)

It was you who threw the first stone
who encouraged everyone to follow your lead.
You taught us the best stones to find: smooth flat and round.
You taught us the way to hold our hand to dangle our arm to lean over just so: bent at the knees head cocked, stone thrown near parallel whipped with a fast flick of your wrist.
You taught us what it sounds like when done right: kerplisch kerplisch kerplisch.

2 comments:

Ryan said...

I am very curious who "you" is in this poem. Though the experience of learning to skip a stone across water is the central theme, it seems like the act of "you" teaching something is more important, something to be treasured. It's like the poem is a thank you or a longing for a past connection, maybe the experience was a one time thing that you wished had happened more often, or just a simple happy memory of past times.

Rory Gibbens said...

You're intrigue is inspiring to write more on this poem. Never felt it was finished, hence it being a free write.
It is certainly steeped in memory, though doesn't necessarily need to be specified by person, era, or experience, to be meaningful.
Is really a combination of two things:
1. Memory of stone throwing on lake in Glacier NP last summer. Perhaps one of the most beautiful vistas to behold...
2. Thoughts on a friend that maybe taught me more than they she realizes.
2 brings me to my point, you're inspiring me to dig deeper, bring more meaning to this besides the concrete imagery.
Lately I've been focusing on concrete imagery and maybe need to weave in more abstract and metaphor and allegory...