ACCOUNT OF MY DAYS
Sequence: 4
THE STONE BOAT
that sled of thick oak planks
with upturned front we called the stone boat
dragged by a heavy chain through its nose
over the plowed dirt so
we could load it with stones that rose
through the soil each spring
the tractor set to go as slow as it could
sometimes with no driver
and the selection for that field that year
varying: as big as my fist as big as my head
the stone boat loaded full
carried its rock harvest over the waves
of furrows us on top of the heap
or you could say riding its back
dirt as rubbed into our skin
as into the skin of the stones
going to a pile we increased each year
the stones had two weights
one we pulled from the earth
one we lifted to the top of the pile