THE CHRISTENING STONE

There’s only one stone
that matters. Cushioned in mud
and clay and seaweed,
it feeds on dreams.

In the stodgy sludge
of spring’s first run-off,
a hand might reach down,
lift the nearby weight of one,

skip it across water’s
irrepressible bone. Who
has picked such a stone
from amongst the many?
And why that one?

I was once touched
by such a stone and because
of that I turned human.
But first, I was stone.

Dianna MacKinnon Henning taught through CPITS, received several CAC grants and taught poetry workshops through the William James Association’s Prison Arts Program, including Folsom Prison. MFA from Vermont College. Publications, in part: MacQueen’s Quinterly; Artemis Journal; The Adirondack Review; Memoir Magazine; The Plague Papers, edited by Robbi Nester; Pacific Poetry and New American Writing. 2021 Nomination by The Adirondack Review for a Pushcart Prize. MFA in Writing ’89 from Vermont College, Montpelier. Her fourth poetry book, Camaraderie of the Marvelous, was published by Kelsay Books Sept. 2021.