Stone's first day at school

by Lydia Harris

it hasn’t seen trestle tables before
or doors though it is a door of sorts

it hasn’t heard a brass bell clang:
change your shoes, playtime

or drunk milk with a straw
or bowed its head and recited

the Lord’s Prayer, all this is new to the stone
although it is older by far

although in its grains there’s a book
of the beginning of stone

how each grain was trapped
by chance and weather and water

the first page reads, apple, baby, cat
words unknown to the stone

stone is its own word
and the stone’s eyes are windows in rain

and stone is learning to read by itself sign by sign
spiral, lozenge, ring, line, line, line