Stones are

Stones are imprisoned by other stones

Are being born out of stones

Are sending messages from within other stones

Are assimilated integrated, hybrid, or in conflict

Were once squeezed together so tightly.

Are in a multi-million-year process of argument and adjustment

Or have come to rest, as in my courtyard, and have come mostly to know how to live together

Still rustling against each other, subtly, quietly, wearing each other out and wearing each other down, in a state of conflict-and-nesting called “negotiation.”