Poetry Rocks!

Poetry Rocks! I love it, and I hope you might, too.

These rocks are part of a project I created through my 2024 artist-in-residence program at the East 40. During my visits, I reflected on the beauty surrounding me. The specific poem that inspired the rocks came from compiling and rearranging lines from my journal entries.

 

I invite you to bring your own thoughts to the rocks, arranging them in a way that speaks to you. If you choose to, share your creation:
 

● sharing method 1: Upload your photo to Instagram. Include #East40PoetryRocks and #NCCEast40
 

● sharing method 2: Submit your photo to this Google Form so I can add it to the public Google photo album, East40 Poetry Rocks! Photos. Note: your name will only appear if you edit your name into it.

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The Poem

 

Threshold

When the world feels like it’s falling apart,
time stolen, squandered, slipping through your fingers,
you steer through steep turns and secret passageways.
Wandering around, never reaching your destination.
Spinning on your head
for years, waiting for the momentum
to stop — lost.

 

Shift what you’re looking for.
Seek a quiet space to open yourself to the world at its most beautiful.
When you are held and honored in the busy silence of nature.
When you aren’t afraid of the result.
A moment beyond surviving — to escape, to breathe.

 

Embrace the stillness.

 

There is a place where the grass grows high,
where you feel like you’re entering a secret world,
a threshold waiting to be crossed:
A wooden bench under a tree at the forest’s edge.
Buzzing blues and ruffling greens unfurl into pops of oranges and yellows,
the air a silk that laps at your skin. A safety net, cradled in the arms of an attentive lover.

She feels the opportunity approach with each tick of the setting sun.

She is waiting, her secret nearly spilling over.

Commune.

This quiet closeness.

Rediscover what lies buried.

 

Called forward, I tentatively nibble.

My tongue electrified,

I speak with fuzzy syllables.

Breathe in the face of hope. Breathe in the face of life.

When I’ve had my fill, my insides jelly-soft,
mushy, spinning in and out, I know:
Each discovery along the journey is its own destination,
and the forest is always here within me.

 

The Poet

Anne Sipos is a staff member at Northampton Community College, a creative writing teacher
(formerly and futurely), and a lifelong student of poetry.

 

Her work explores resilience, memory, and transformation, blending raw honesty with lyrical depth.
This project reflects her belief in the power of shared creativity to strengthen community bonds.