Jesse Graves

Two Stones

               When gods were young/This wind was old.

                                                           -Edward Thomas

Even in bright noontime, we never walked

beyond the ridgeline where the babies’ graves

were marked by two stones and a blue placard.

Pinewoods made rich understory, with caves,

fault lines, and fissures pock-marking the ground.

They were Johnson children, born with two years

between them and died before they found

their footing, fulfilling their parents’ fears.

No matter how mild the day in yard and field,

howling wind topped the ridge and shook tall trees.

My cousins and I kept eyes and ears peeled

for some movement that might cause us to freeze,

any sound that could signal a hushed weep,

or the cooing a baby makes before long sleep. 

Jesse Graves is the author of five poetry collections, including Tennessee Landscape with Blighted Pine, and a collection of essays, Said-Songs: Essays on Poetry and Place. His work received the James Still Award for Writing about the Appalachian South from the Fellowship of Southern Writers.