Stony trails of jagged beauty rise
like stretch marks streaking sand-hips.
All the Earth has borne beguiles us
& battered bodies build our acres.

Babes that sleep in hewn rock cradles
learn to bear the hardness coming.
Tough grace forged in tender bones-
may this serve & bless them well.

They grow & break grief into islands
of sun-baked stone submerged in salt
kisses, worn down by the ocean's ardor
relentless as any strong loving.

May they find caresses that abolish pain.
Like Earth, they brandish wounds of gold!


About this poem
"This poem was inspired by the shoreline in Madison, Conn. In Annie Finch's workshop with other poets at the Poetry by the Sea conference, we explored meter's relationships to nature. As I entered this meditation, I couldn't help but relate the physical landscape to the ongoing struggles of human nature embroiling our country and world. It is an acknowledgment of and call to transform adversity into greatness-a wish for relief, also known as mercy."
-Kamilah Aisha Moon

About Kamilah Aisha Moon
Kamilah Aisha Moon is the author of "She Has a Name" (Four Way Books, 2013). She teaches at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York and lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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(c) 2015 Kamilah Aisha Moon. Originally published by the Academy of American Poets, www.poets.org. Distributed by King Features Syndicate