Marcela Sulak
Summer 2025 | Poetry
O Stone
Maybe the child is a haunted want, she doesn't know what
a stone mother makes. Eddies where the babies play,
to be followed, a strong drink.
Praise the mother, the children are safe and grow strong.
The mother lode says, making eddies,
what were you expecting, a not-stone?
Praise the mother, the children are safe and grow strong.
The mother scares you, she is so hard.
What were you expecting, a not-stone?
The children grow and the mother is still sitting on the neck.
When you let go of your fist, the water flows
around the fright of the hard mother.
You grow children, the mother falls from the neck,
sometimes dreams bring grandparents
around the fright of the hard mother, who says
a lode is the work done by a single person.
Grandpa gave grandma a ring for their union,
and he loved the child so, he reported his death to her himself,
and the child remembers that she is their union.
The stone mother has grandma's ring.
He loved her so, he told her he'd died himself.
She is trying to explain. Her brain knows all of this.
A secondhand ring, she is always making do.
What does the mother want that turned her to stone?
Marcela Sulak is the author of five poetry collections, most recently, The Fault, the National Jewish Book Awards finalist, City of Sky Papers, and the lyric memoir Mouth Full of Seeds (2020). She’s co-edited the Rose-Metal Press title Family Resemblance: An Anthology and Exploration of 8 Hybrid Literary Genres. A translator from the Czech, French, and Hebrew, Sulak’s work has been recognized by PEN and the NEA fellowship. Sulak is managing editor of The Ilanot Review.