after Joao Cabral do Melo Neto

education by stone: lesson one. to learn from the stone you must visit the stone and steal

her voice. each class starts with pronunciation. then ethics: a cold resistance against

anything that flows. then poetry: firm and meaty. and home economics: a trash compactor. these are

the lessons of the stone. a speechless prayerbook for whosoever can mouthe them out


and here is another education: in the flatlands

(which were inside out before they were ever taught)

in the flatlands the stones don't know how to teach

(and if they did there would be nothing left to teach)

so you don't learn from the stones there. there a stone

is just a stone. birthstone. corundum. bixbite. air