Skipping Stones

by Kenneth Tanemura and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in Woodnotes #30, Autumn 1996, page 40. Written on 23 March 1994 in Foster City, California.

long spring day

beach sand trickles

through my fingers Kenneth

a one-legged blackbird

hopping up the flagstone path Michael

on the steep ledge

amid crumbled rocks,

a buttercup Kenneth

the quarry’s evening light—

still the smell

of chipped granite Michael

many shades blended in the pebble;

the sky changing colors Kenneth

blood on my finger—

the sharp skipping stone’s

widening circles Michael