when I feel crazy or when
I run out of things to say
as if there really is a difference
I wonder why I even bother
to write all this down

when I feel crazy or when
I run out of things to say
I go to Joshua Tree
I like to find a warm, flat stone
to sit on and read and think

one time I took the DSM IV with me
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
fourth edition, the psychologists’ bible

I read that talking to a rock is atypical
not necessarily pathological
but when a patient believes
the rock is talking back
that is maladaptive behavior

I stopped and remembered a time
spent in the hospital when
my doctor summed it up like this:
“it’s okay to speak to stones
it’s when they speak back
you should be worried”

but there are no doctors in Joshua Tree
there are no patients either
there are just many, many stones
and they told me
to write all this down

(February ’14)