Echo Park Gōngshi

I unearthed a scholar's stone

While digging sedge in garden,

Set nodule vertically 

On wooden step and it kept

Its pose. Rock was olive drab,

Pimpled with translucent crust,

Ruptured by holes teasing depth.

How unique specimen came

To my lot of clay soil

Is true mystery to me.

Ancient savants scrutinized

Such forms, mentally wandered

Miniature surfaces

As if on mythic travels;

White splashes of silica

Mimicked pools and caverns.

I sit outside this evening,

Sirens frequent boulevard.

I turn newfound stone in hands,

Trek its outcroppings under

Moonlight; stub my toe on jade.

Laura Stickney  2026

Notes:

Gōngshi or scholar's stones are

naturally occurring rocks collected

by Chinese literati. These small stones

can be displayed on stands and appreciated

as tiny yet intense experiences of nature.

sedge--An invasive weed.

savants--wise and learnèd scholars.

silica--a white mineral

photographs by Laura Stickney of

stone she found in her garden. 

image of detail of Chines landscape 

painting.