Throwing Rocks
A poem by Cami Rumble

Throwing Rocks

No matter the size of the body of water
the typical human instinct is to throw a rock in—
to make one’s mark, perhaps,
to defy the depths of a crater lake by
disturbing the surface, to say
I was here, I changed you for a moment.

So too others launch rocks into the lake of our lives,
rocks that plunge deep to the bottom,
unexplored and forgotten.

For a moment there is the surface shock,
ripples of pain
claiming momentary attention,
but that fleeting fades and we forget that
in the silent depths
the stone is still there.

It waits down there somewhere,
returning as confusion or anger or shame
and like an underwater rock stepped on unawares
we’re surprised at how small it is
and how much pain it has caused again.

About the Author:

Cami Rumble is a writer and stay-at-home mom who graduated from California State University Stanislaus with a degree in English. Her work has recently appeared in TMP Magazine and Teach. Write. as well as several local anthologies. She lives in California’s Central Valley. 

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