STONES
Candice James
Copyright 2008
When I was a child
I used to walk toward the ocean with expectation.
I used to listen to her subtle sounds.
I would walk the beach listening to her music.
When it became too beautiful
I would search the shoreline for stones.
I would carefully screen each stone
Almost to the point of interviewing them.
I chose only to pick the smooth flat ones that would skip.
When a stone skips over the water
It spends more time up in the air than on the surface.
I’m not a child anymore.
I’m an adult now and,
I’ve become very much like the stones
I used to so carelessly skip,
More out of my element than in it.