Throwing stones…

It starts in childhood, a toddler,
picks up a pebble, gives a jerky throw,
and delights in the effect
of its chattering path, the effect
he caused…
lesson learning.

A youth, bored with nature’s
slow-turning beauty, spies
a singing bird, envious, it
can fly, the youth cannot,
but he can cause a rock
to wing and wound…
lesson learning.

Confusing messages,
peered pressure, advertising…
lucky teenage beauty
has lost her heart, she smiles
as she flings her words
like stony shards, causing
flinching, and pain…
lesson learning.

A hopeless mother, trapped
by babies, money and anger,
scared and agonized by
tedious sameness, launches
a tirade of gravelly miasma,
inflicting an echoing landslide
that continues through Life…
lesson learning.

Conflicting personalities,
differing opinions, rage
reverberates out of the night,
a hand-held piece of metal,
propels and pierces
with its bulleted stone,
leaking knowledge…
lesson learning.

Sensitive eyes,
continually impressioned
by violent fragments,
skittering into fragile minds,
creating a tunnel in the path,
carved and sculpted, lost,
as their sight turns to stone
and the sound of chattering
overwhelms their lives…
lesson learned.

Erin Elizabeth Kelly-Moen
© Copyright 5/16/03