It’s hard to convince someone

that I have accomplished

great things

by writing a poem

but the more I do it

the more I feel

that I have squeezed

life

out of the rocks.

I speak to stones, the way Moses did

and water gushes forth.

Poetry

is

wealth

from the rocks—

that’s why poets get paid a penny a word,

and

storytelling

is

like a lost stone.

When a child finds it

they speak to the rock

and the rock doesn’t say anything at all—

that’s how great storytellers get started.