Sedimented Rock

by Jessica Ursell


I want to take all my
memories of us 
and press them down 
into sedimented rock

All our layers lithify 
Compressed 
So I can hold the rock of
them
in the grip of my fist

Asperous substrata 
Worn and chipped 
Gouged and cragged 
Porous 
but still there 
Pressed together 
a few - the earliest ones –
smoothed by Time 

So many times I want to hurl
this rock off a cliff 
Its sharp uneven surface
making small cuts in my
palm

But once or twice 
in a very long while 
I want to hold my rock 
inside my pocket 
and caress the smooth
underside with my thumb


* * * * *

Jessica Ursell is an Air Force veteran, poet, and progressive activist. The granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, Soviet gulags, and a descendant of a Taíno great-grandma, she understands in her bones the consequences of intolerance, indifference, and ignorance.
 
Her essays, "At the Country Club with Superman," and "Standing Up for the Voiceless: My Fight with Royalty in Anne Frank’s House," were published by The Jewish Writing Project in 2022. Her third essay for TJWP comes out 8 January 2024. Jessica’s poem, "A Still-Life Collage of Lost Objects," will appear in the February 2024 print issue of Down in the Dirt magazine.