Small Stones Day 3

Day 3: Use all your senses

Shh… What can you hear?

I’ve read lots of people’s beautiful small stones and I’ve noticed that the first thing I do is picture them in my mind’s eye.

For me sight is the most predominate sense. I have to make an effort of will to imagine the sound of birds, or rain or cars drifting by.

When I write I also think I have a tendency to hone in on the visual aspect first.

Noticing this I want to encourage all of us to notice with all of our senses, and to try and capture something we might not usually capture in our stones.

You could try listening for your small stone today, or feeling its texture with your fingers, or noticing its smell drifting before you.

In ‘Had I not been awake’ Seamus Heany’s first poem in ‘Human Chain’ he writes about…

"…A wind that rose and whirled until the roof

Pattered with quick leaves off the sycamore"

and I can hear it.

Step three

• Notice with your other senses today.
• Write a small stone about what you have heard, or felt.
• If you share it, I’ll listen carefully to what you have heard. I’ll imagine the texture of the grain of wood, or the damp soil…

Three small stones so far. Brilliant. ~ Kaspalita WOWH/Mightybell

Jeffery Pine at Tahoe Vista, Ca

My hand on the bark stirs the scent of vanilla filling my nose with memories. I am 8 again, crunching leave under foot, trying to capture the smell of the woods like a photograph.