Before the animals.
Before the green stutter of trees,
fragrant hum of flowers,
there was wind. Before wind,
there were the mountains, shedding their skins
for 500 million years
until they were islands.
Before the mountains was the sea
shallow with sediment — sloughed off
minerals and the skeletons of coral and mollusk,
compressing into rock. Limestone.
The building blocks of this city.
Each grey wall of Kingston
a congress of dead sea creatures
from the ancient slip and spill. Each stone
older than human life. Our lives, that blow through
brief as weather, on the surface of these streets,
these rock shelves,
this old mountain.
This furrowing, living sea.
(Jan. 1, 2016)
About this Poem
The Poet Laureate for the City of Kingston writes one new, original poem each year of their appointment that addresses or reflects one or more aspects of life in the City, to be read at the Mayor's annual New Year's Day Levee. At this year's Levee, Helen Humphreys read her new poem "Limestone". Last year's New Year's poem was "Three Owls and a Bayonet".
Humphreys' most recently-published book is 2015's The River. You can find more of her poetry and other works in the KFPL catalogue.
