Skimming stones



Looking down I can see
so many different possibilities
wondering which I shall pick
and with it then what I shall see

smooth pink stone with pits of white
will it fit in my fingers just right
that I might flick it with the crack like a whip
to get the perfect gyroscopic spin

has it mass that it might fly
many times as it skims
kissing upon the water where
ripples will spread in growing rings

or perhaps a kidney shape
bisected by a streak of white
bigger that more power might have
that longer then might be its flight

wonder I at a stone oblong
black and white and quite small
perhaps it's basalt mixed with lime
would it then keep its spin

here a stone with finger notch
of dark gray with salmon swirls
somehow draws and holds my eye
I want it not into the water to fling

so many lie here from which to choose
gold and salmon  grays black and white
smooth and round or angles tight
I wonder which to give flight
as I lay in dark of night
waking from the fading dream
with bleary eyes upon the clock to gaze
to see the minutes slip away

slip do I from fading dreams
into the night awakening
with hours long before the dawn
seeking sleep that alludes me

'tis there meaning that I should
deeper thoughts into which to plunge
hidden meanings for me to find
or just confusion of fading dreams
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Submitted by wakofoed on May 29, 2021

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:15 min read
9

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXXA BBXC DAXX XBXB XXXC XXDE XBBBBXXX FEXA XXXF
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,254
Words 250
Stanzas 9
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 8, 4, 4

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    "Skimming stones" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/101241/skimming-stones>.

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