These are the proper names: Limestone, tufa, coral rag, Clint, beer stone, braystone, Porphyry, gneiss, rhyolite, Ironstone, cairngorm, circle stone, Blue stone, chalk, box stone, Sarsen, magnesia, brownstone, Flint, aventurnine, Soapstone, alabaster, basalt, Slate, quartzite, ashlar, Clunch, cob, gault, grit, Buhrstone, dolomite, Flagstone, freestone, sandstone, Marble, shale, gabbro, clay, Adamant, gravel, traprock, And of course brimstone. Some of the names are shapes: Crag, scarp, moraine, esker, Alp, hogback, ledge, tor, Cliff, boulder, crater, Gorge, and bedrock. Some denote uses: Keystone, capstone, Hearthstone, whetstone, And gravestone. For women a painful stone called Wombstone, which doctors say is "A calculus formed in the uterus." Gallstone and kidneystone hurt everyone. Millstone is our blessing. I will not say the names Of the misnamed precious stones. But a lovely name is gold, A product of stone. Underwards is magma; May all who read this live long. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...MOTHER EARTH by GEORGE SANTAYANA THE COLORED BAND by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR CORINNA'S GOING A-MAYING by ROBERT HERRICK LINES ON THE MERMAID TAVERN by JOHN KEATS TO A LILY by JAMES MATHEWES LEGARE ODE TO SILENCE by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY THE CLOUD by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY EPITAPH FOR LINCOLN by WALT WHITMAN VERSES DESIGNED TO BE SENT TO MR. ADAMS by ELIZABETH FRANCES AMHERST |