2 Sections from "The Place of Stones"

2 sections from 

a 13-section long poem called 

The Place of Stones  

are currently on view in

The Hamilton Stone Review

You can read the poems

here.

The poem came about when I lived near Woodstock, New York, several years back. I spent the autumn/

winter months wandering at dusk in a hemlock forest that had once been a blue stone quarry in the 1880s.

There was a path through the woods that wound around several reservoirs that had once been used by the city of Kingston as a water source. Near one of the reservoirs I found a circle of large standing stone. 

Sitting on top of one of those stones until I couldn't feel my hands or feet because of the cold, many things passed through the area: 

Deer, black bears, osprey, geese, 

and the usual dusk-spirits seen

at the corner of the eye...

 I could feel the energy in the stones, the energy of having once been part of a vast mountain range during the Devonian Era. 

Feeling that ancient energy, I began to wonder if there was something inside our ancestors - especially those who were deeply wounded - who felt that energy as a threat, as some dark power that needed to be appeased.

Those thoughts mingled with thoughts and feelings about the endless wars the US is engaged in and my feelings about having recently witnessed the slow, painful death of someone I knew.

Find the two sections  
here.