Which one should be cast first? The murky pond has lots. But some of them are duds. My cousin invented a game of striking the water striders. Your stone had to bounce twice or it wasn't official. It was really hard. They were so far away that we couldn't hit anything. My cousin rolled up his church pants and waded in. I laughed at his throw 'cause it was a dud. His next one too. He looked at me. I watched the reflection of the sad trees the clouds and the whole wide universe as his next stone zoomed like a dragonfly. It splashed the strider underwater but it did not hit him so my cousin didn't win even though he laughed at me but then he fell in so I laughed at him. He was so wet. He wanted to hide his clothes and asked me not to tell because Mom would be so mad.
Only later did I realize that water striders don't resurface.
I like your blog background. Makes me want to drink. Anyways, I couldn't see the last line on my first reading and I think the piece is actually stronger without it. I instantly connected the skipping of stones to the Jesus story of "he who has not sinned cast the first stone" because the first line is "Which one should be cast first?" This is interesting because it reverses the expectation: it's not who should cast the first stone, but which stone should be cast? The idea being, I think, that punishment in this "whole wide universe" with it's "sad trees and clouds" is the rule. Even the seemingly banal activity of skipping stones--something people do out of boredom--is filled with malicious intent.
ReplyDeleteThis piece has a lot of clear images in it. The details have a really strong impact on the audience. The choice to say “church pants” is a small and short detail that actually adds a lot to the prose poem. This is so because it says a lot about the time and personality of a character. The choice by the writer to use this short but very descriptive detail is impressive.
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