Stock still stone slabs 
a petrified conclave, amassing moss
and weeds that find the barely-there in-betweens
I imagine them once jostling for attention
imperceptible to other than the sculptor
just to be the chosen one, rubbed
dubbed, clubbed until lithic ensoulment
cuts out tunnels, grasps a speck of light
shape-shifting poetry as form

Stock still stone slabs
remain in vain, for the sculptor
is long gone - consumed - her passion spent
and all their future possibilities, becomings 
will only feel the unforgiving hands of time 
the four distorting winds of change
sunlight on whitening faces
weathered into one weighty wait

34 thoughts on “A weighty wait”

1. I love how your words roll with the weight of those stones… I wonder how that wait will be there (underneath)

   1. I like the rolling you mention – hope the words roll off the tongue and gather no moss 😉

2. I like the repetition of ‘Stock still stone slabs’, which gives them substance. I also love the sound of ‘amassing moss’, ‘rubbed / dubbed, clubbed’ and ‘lithic ensoulment’. I feel sorry for the slabs, waiting in vain for the sculptor to bring them to life. A weighty wait indeed.

   1. thank you Kim – yes that repeat line stuck in my head – the stones have such presence and to me conjured something between an embryo and a headstone

3. Gorgeous stones, who wait and watch, existential sentries.

   1. I like that ❤

      1. 🙂

4. Lots of lovely chimes and alliteration here. I can’t help feeling sorry for all that lost potential, the stones that missed their chance.

   1. glad you heard the sounds of the sculptor and the silence – thanks for an inspiring prompt Sarah

5. Excellent use of wait/weight; sestinas haunt us still. Sculptors amaze me, as they envision the figures hidden in the stone.

   1. I agree Glenn – what an imagination to see form in a blank slate, stone etc

6. I am so fascinated by the process of choosing the stone. Love that repetitive line Laura, it gives the true feeling of heaviness.

   1. This personification of stone slabs is brilliant! You predict their fate at the hands (or not) of the would be sculptor with great imagery.

      1. thank you Vivian – the stones spoke to me 😉

         1. 🙂

   2. All stacked together the stones reminded me of children jostling for attention – albeit weighty children!

      1. That’s a great thought!

7. I like this description of time: “unforgiving hands of time”

   1. ah yes time takes no prisoners!

8. Waiting to be formed by the hands of another. This is thought provoking.
   Your words are very rhythmic. I like that.

   1. thank you Ali –

9. I love the last line, I feel anticipation for the beauty that formed.

   1. nature forms its own beauty though often more wabi sabi

10. I like the allusion to poetry. I imagine this as being about words that will never leave the pens of poets we have lost.

    1. certainly one way of seeing things – also an allusion to Arp and this whole Poetry of Forms movement (of which Hepworth was associated) –
       https://krollermuller.nl/en/en-arp-the-poetry-of-forms

       1. Thank you for the link. I enjoyed the video and the examples of his expression.

          1. pleasure! I have a mind to do some poems around this

11. This is well written Laura . A fascinating form of waiting. Waiting on the sculptor that wil never come.

    1. many thanks Rob – the eternal wait in the embryo

12. kaykuala

    I imagine them once jostling for attention
    imperceptible to other than the sculptor
    just to be the chosen one,

    Come to think of it. Just how did they feel being chosen from one of the other. There must be something that they could offer that they got chosen. A great twist to the prompt Laura!

    Hank

    1. Only the sculptor can see it – thanks Hank

13. What might have been, there is a sadness in this, the passing of time and things left undone.

    1. thank you for the feedback – yes you have felt what I intended –

       1. Thank you Laura, I’ve been reflecting on this over the past months and this poem really spoke to me.

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