Rauks

BY Ingrid Andersson

Rauks

rauk – a column of fossilized rock formed
as softer geological material erodes away;
from Gutnish, a language of the Baltic
island of Gotland

Born in warm synovial seas,
the towering giants once
were living
nerve centers, teeming coral.
They rose from their ancient
beds, sedimented in life and death,
fundamental forces: sun, water,
wind, gravity. Today they stand
along a Baltic coast, speaking
a native language: rauks—
earth’s best poems.
They look to me like
fossil brainstems, freed
from softer matter.
I love to go
and dangle
my naked feet
below one:
midbrain,
pons,
medulla
oblongata,
feeling
happy.