Photography © Edward S. Gault

 

Relative

An ammonite rides in my pocket
a spiral shell now rock solid
one hundred thousand years old

I carry it with me
unlike my lip balm,
tissues,
reading glasses,
failed marriage,
surgical scars,
excess weight,

it’s the only thing which
makes me feel younger.

 

Ann Randlette is “trying to maintain some sanity in insane times. Wherever I go, I bring a rock back with me, a pebble, some stone…no necessarily because it’s pretty but because it endures. I hope to, so I carry one around in my pocket.”

Edward S. Gault is a poet and fine arts photographer living in Brighton, Massachusetts. His work has appeared in Oddball Magazine, Spectrum, Wilderness House Literary Review, Interlude, Currents, and Encore. His poetry collection, Airhead and Other Poems was published this year by Read and Green Books.