READ MY ROCKS
The kid asked me
Why do people like words so much
If words don’t do anything
They just sit there like
ROCKS
?
So I picked up a rock
And I said
There’s a pond
Throw it
Throw it away?
No—just throw it
And the ripples will reach
So far out
That you will never look at
ROCKS
The same way again
—from 2019 Rattle Young Poets Anthology
__________
Why do you like to write poetry?
Ellie Shumaker: “I enjoy writing poetry because it’s like music as words, and it makes your heart dance. It transforms a piece of paper into the gentle warmth of the sun, the shivery touch of snow, the crunch of autumn leaves, or a soft spring breeze. It can be a heartbeat, a moth’s flight, or moonlight. Poetry is a few simple words changing a life. They inspire us to write the poems that will inspire others.”
