Value Added
No one knew what the stones like squatting frogs
signified. There they were, fuming in rows, out
of the ground; every critic had his explanation
or hers. But—we had to remember—they
came to nothing, every one; those large stones
out of the earth served the systems
of those who considered them, as explaining
something about the past it was important
for the explainer to explain. And yet
no one had any idea truly; there was no
basis in fact for any view of them, and
they remained like their origins—or like
smiling Olmec babies, sweet but ominous figures
come from the earth to reproach us, almost
cheerfully, for our ignorance—a mystery, just
as the probe of our feelings came up with nothing.
Copyright Credit: Stephen Sandy, “Value Added” from Black Box. Copyright © 1999 by Stephen Sandy. Reprinted by permission of Louisiana State University Press.
Source: Black Box (Louisiana State University Press, 1999)