I am sitting on a riverbed
looking for stones to balance.
They clank against each other
as I look through them.
None of them are the same,
but they all belong together.
I pick them up
one at a time and
assess their stackability.
I feel their weight
as the gravity
of the earth
pulls on their bodies.
I feel their warmth
as they lie there
soaking in the fire
of the sun.
I feel their texture and shape,
the wearing river
smoothing their bodies.
I stack them up
carefully resting one
on top of the other.
Sometimes they topple
and mix in with the other rocks.
I pick them up again.
I reuse some of the same ones
and find new ones.
I am reminded of a story.
I want to tell you about a time
that my dad went fishing.
This is not a fish story,
although he had many of those.
He often floated a stream
that flows through Virginia called the New River.
He liked this particular section
because the fishing was good
and the boat launches
were easy to use.
He had a small, aluminum boat
with an electric motor
that he used to navigate
and propel the boat.
He also used a paddle
in calmer sections.
It was comfortable to sit in.
One day, he was fishing this
stretch of the river
and came to a spot in the middle
of the river where he decided
to put the anchor out.
He was sitting there tying on a lure
and noticed a doe and two fawns
walking along the shore.
He watched them as they
quietly browsed along the water’s edge.
Suddenly, they stopped
and looked back downstream
intently pointing their ears
in that direction.
My dad saw a dog
coming towards them.
The two fawns went up the bank
and disappeared into a thicket.
The doe walked into the river
where it got a little deeper.
She crouched in the water,
submerged her body,
raised her head,
and left only her nose sticking
out of the water.
The dog came to where the deer
were standing and excitedly sniffed around.
Unable to find anything,
he quickly moved on.
A few minutes later, the doe slowly
stood up and cautiously looked around.
Seeing that the dog had moved on,
she walked out of the river
and went up the bank
in the direction of the two fawns.