Once A Boulder

Spenserian Sonnet

I once was boulder; now, naught but a rock.
Millennia have worn me ~ time's current.
Years pass, smoothed by Earth's geologic clock;
I'm made of matter ~ God's great firmament.

For eons, grinding glacial element,
ancient surface honed ... crushed existence slow.
All history, for man, a moment spent
to fracture stone ~ a planet's seeds to sow.

Volcanic fire to melt the icy flow,
deposits ages gone as aggregate.
From sea to coast and mountains' high plateau;
erupt, then cool ... a process ne'er forget.

So, if you find me, know I've stood the test!
Here in your garden, I have come to rest.

2022

Author's Note

I challenged myself to write something poetic about the dullest subject imaginable. A rock. The 'Bard in Chief' sent this back with just a few corrections and Richard was good enough to let me find my own replacements. I'm starting to get the hang of this form. Poem by poem.

Reviews

[Red Brick Keshner]

Enjoyed that thoroughly, and indeed the rock in the garden has a whole history! And thus having successfully "poetified" the dullest subject at this imagining. I got a clue that the artist's scope covers the whole spectrum of the human condition, be that musing on inanimate objects. Thanks for sharing. /Frederick.

[William Michael Reeves]

Thanks Frederick. I liked this idea so much I wrote two more 'Rock' sonnets. One about gold and one about a sister/brother geode/thunder egg. Coming soon!

[Red Brick Keshner]

Looking for ward to them, Bill!

[lightsong]

And YOU turned it into something totally delightfully magnificent! this is really Brilliant Bill, You say a Rock but what I see here is far than this. the body is a body a shelter of the soul, it changes by time, but never the soul. the soul will always be pure. no matter what... always and ever pure, once a boulder, forever a boulder. this is what your amazing poem spoke to me! so well done both in the subject, expressions, the form! bravo Mister!

[lightsong]

P.S, there is this poem of yours that I've seen a while back under the title (Iris in the Sky) and still unpublished. I am so eager to know what it is about...

[William Michael Reeves]

Your thought gives the rock new dimension. It has been worn to its soul. The rock we find in the garden is the soul of a boulder. Originally the rock was wearing time as clothing but I made some changes that eliminated that. Suddenly I want the rock to have more life. More songs sung. How many facets of a rock can there be? Mountains of them I imagine. Thanks for recognizing my form and subject. Just finished another one, about one......???

[Relic]

I haven't got the disipline right now to do a sonnet of any type. But in time, I will. :)

[William Michael Reeves]

Discipline would be the right tool. And I've found it helps to come back to it after a day and read it relaxed as if someone else had written it. And repeat the process for a few days. Start with one of the other two types. This has the more difficult rhyme pattern. Hope you go for it! Good for the brain.

[JE Falcon]

Well said and well laid out to reach a positive conclusion. I like it!

[William Michael Reeves]

Thanks. I was actually going to finish by revealing the rock was a Thunder Egg. Crack me open I beg, I am a Thunder Egg, or something like that. But I would have had to change too much to include color and agate. For another poem. Thanks for reading my rock.

[JE Falcon]

A rock today, a garnet tomorrow.
Words laid end to end
Breeds laughter or sorrow. --- LOL

[William Michael Reeves]

That was nice. I like it! Could build a lot on that idea. Maybe rocks aren't so dull after all. I know they're not. I was a rockhound in my youth. You must have written about rocks?

[Cherrie Palmer]

The great thing about a poet is he / she sees worth in things others pass by. Until a gentle rhyme helps them see.
Excellent poem with a timeless quality. 👌

[William Michael Reeves]

Thanks Cherrie. I suspect you have the same problem I have....everything looks like a poem. Nice description; timeless. Thanks!

[Betty Hermelee]

I really,Ike the idea of crafting this boulder/stone as more than three dimensional; as time moves on, and the winds,the sands,the moon and everything changes in the cosmos, the stone still lives, but shrinks as all these elements help to sand it down it, but it lasts no matter what?….whereas a human life is but a moment in time…..in the great scheme of things…very interesting thought….
Best
B.

[William Michael Reeves]

Thanks Betty. Originally, I actually had the rock wearing time like clothing. I liked the idea but didn't work with the sonnet. Might write that dimension into something else. As dull as a rock may seem now, it sure has been on a ride!

[Betty Hermelee]

You're very welcome!!!

[knighngale]

Hellos, William, I love the whole scenario of boulder to stone, they say you can't bleed a stone, but you can. I don't know if it's just land or inuendos? LOL Either way, love both deliniations, ---KnighnGale.

[William Michael Reeves]

That's what I love about poetry. Stones can bleed! Thanks Galenknigh. Oops, my pen must be bleeding....

[knighngale]

keep grinning hon, tucheesaesheed 😋😋😋

[keith]

so which god do you make reference?
certainly not the one that flooded the planet in temper tantrum.
certainly not the same that has allowed the likes of hitler? or putin?
certainly not the one that allows so many to die from hunger while rewarding the worst a full delicious table fare?
certainly not the racist or the rapist?
the charlatan? the carnie? the huckster? the grifter? the fraud?
the trumps of the world?
everything is indeed carbon-based matter!

[William Michael Reeves]

Interesting that you should bring that up Keith. I searched high and low for another word to go there. I'm as agnostic as Thomas Huxley defined it in 1870. If you are interested in my own personal feelings on the subject read my Choka of Senryu, 'God of Fate'. It's on my 4th page. I went with God because it was the word that was right for meter and subject. I feel a little like a hypocrite when I write god into a poem. And soul. But it is important to a lot of people and I recognize that. My usage is generic. If I had to pick a god it would be Zeus. I like the lightning bolt.

I've been studying Parallelismus Membrorum and the five types of parallelism. Your review gave me some good ideas. Thanks!

[keith]

i might have gotten carried away a little but according to my sic sense of poetic license this was it
maybe popeye ... spinach was his thang (cheap to maintain) he sang with his constant talking under his breath
his girlfriend olive wasn't a gold digger with implants (good girl next door)
he knew how wimpy rolled and still helped him get his burger today that history say it will not be paid back on tuesday
most of all he refused to give up in his never ending battle with the biggest bully of them all bluto!
and he only came around on saturday morns!

[William Michael Reeves]

Oh I was there Saturday mornings. With his goil Olive Oil. Popeye, the god of all my hungerings. And I've been known to boil a can of spinach before I's brings the virgin my oil! Soil?

Billigami

[keith]

my friend, this is a good piece that deserves a continuation! ... tryptic anyone?
a mountain of stone & the smooth faced running stream gravels? you have it? only a suggestion ...
what a powerful combo!

[Chris Shaw]

I'm not a religious person Bill but your sonnet did make me think of an old hymn that we would sing at school in assembly. Rock of ages, cleft to me. I thought of the strength and protection that rock can offer. Well done you for setting yourself challenges. Sonnets require concentration. They aren't for the lazy. Richard is certainly the one to seek guidance from when it comes to form.

Chris

[William Michael Reeves]

Not just Sonnets. All poetry. He's amazing! I'm agnostic myself Chris. References to God are generic. I think the sonnet form does lend itself to songs and hymns. Ideas as big as creation, however that happened. Thanks for recognizing the effort writing a sonnet can be. This one isn't perfect but I'm determined to get it. Read you soon...

[John the Baptist]

Old boulders never die, they just end up on the rocks. You are really into the different forms now, aren't you? This one seemed very well handled to me. Mr. Spenser would approve.

[William Michael Reeves]

Thanks for referencing Edmund. That was some interesting reading. I could hope that as I'm buried all of you poets out there would throw pens into my grave as they shovel dirt, and rocks, into the hole I've written myself into. I'm discovering new forms every day and need to try them at least once. Thanks John.