Stone by Charles Simic?

Question

Go inside a stone

That would be my way.

Let somebody else become a dove

Or gnash with a tiger's tooth.

I am happy to be a stone.

From the outside the stone is a riddle:

No one knows how to answer it.

Yet within, it must be cool and quiet

Even though a cow steps on it full weight,

Even though a child throws it in a river;

The stone sinks, slow, unperturbed

To the river bottom

Where the fishes come to knock on it

And listen.

I have seen sparks fly out

When two stones are rubbed,

So perhaps it is not dark inside after all;

Perhaps there is a moon shining

From somewhere, as though behind a hill—

Just enough light to make out

The strange writings, the star-charts

On the inner walls.

--Charles Simic

Just wanted to share this with the community and get some feedback.

Answer 1

It's a great poem!

I read once, twice to keep in my mind all the beauty of the words.

*To the river bottom

Where the fishes como to knock on it

And listen.....*

Wonder!

I'm sending you one that I adore:

Private Eye

  



  To find clues where there are none,

That's my job now, I said to the

Dictionary on my desk. The world beyond

My window has grown illegible,

And so has the clock on the wall.

I may strike a match to orient myself

In the meantime, there's the heart

Stopping hush as the building

Empties, the elevators stop running,

The grains of dust stay put.

Hours of quiescent sleuthing

Before the Madonna with the mop

Shuffles down the long corridor

Trying doorknobs, turning mine.

That's just little old me sweating

In the customer's chair, I'll say.

Keep your nose out of it.

I'm not closing up till he breaks.

Charles Simic



What do you think?

Bob Fish said:

Life's truths will only be disclosed through internal investigation. The ambition of this poem is slight, a rather straightforward metaphor, but its accuracy is quite profound

Thanks!