"Ravaged by wisdom" is a very striking line, as we don't usually think of the world this way, but I think you hit the nail on the head with those three words. I don't really often like free/non-metered verse, but this was readable enough.

--
now two old ladies sit peacefully knitting,
and their names are sometimes and always [link]

Thank you for a comment that actually comments on a specific thing. I really appreciate it.



--
"The most important things in life are inevitably cliché."

--Chuck Klosterman

Not a problem! If I recall correctly I replied to your thumbshare thread, so you're welcome to read my work as well. Keep penning!

--
now two old ladies sit peacefully knitting,
and their names are sometimes and always [link]

rocks. they always bored me.
yet my mother found something in their inanimate blandness;

Yes. I love the contrast.

they excited her in their age,
their quiet experience.
we would walk by the river and she would gather stones
as it rolled by, happily collecting them
in dirty backpacks with broken straps and zippers,
excited and intrigued at every new discovery.
she should have been a geologist or a history teacher.

Another definite yes. Your imagery is solid and cohesive. The last line deseves to be emphasized more somehow, or at the very least set aside in some way, as it's essentially a parenthetical thought. (which I always appreciate in poetry)

she loves history. and rocks. perhaps she had visions
of solemn, dignified Indians--
charcoal, plaited hair framing a brown, stoic countenance
ravaged by wisdom and wind.
to her, the dusty impressions the womens' weary moccassins made
as they shuffled past with babes on their hips
and the hot sun piercing their eyebrows,
are a passion and a prize--

This is probably the weak link in this piece. The first line falls a little flat due to ineffective repetition (from earlier instances of history and rocks)

this gray rock was turned over in the hands of some ancient child
whose bones are now earth,
!
that petrified wood was touched by so many feet and furs,
!
those green pebbles have had a long pilgrimage,
changing courses with the handshakes of the rivers
or the loud belly-laughs of the giant ocean.

Why the !s? You're intelligent enough in your poetry that I'm very willing to believe there's a definite purpose for them, but it's not striking a chord in me and I'm having trouble seeing the intent behind it. It does add a little emotion of excitement, which suits the piece. Hmm.

a rock has a story, a life.

i see them in her light today:
bathed in sunlight, their many dimensions shaded or glowing
silent and mysterious, matter-of-fact,
hardened by centuries of life and death.
they are all at once beautiful and painfully dull.
how strange it is--they are just like us!
withstanding the passing of the ages
with no power to control their destinies
of speaking out against their inevitable fates,
capable only of living, hardening,
disintegrating into sandy spirits of nothingness.

Another yes. You have a definite gift with imagery. Be careful again of structure and punctuation; those choices stand out immensely and need to stand up to very conscious scrutiny.

--
"Before you can break the rules of rhyme and rhythm, you do have to know what those rules are about." -- John Tydeman

~Christians-QI-Team LitCrit

Thanks! I haven't had much training and poetry is just something I do when I feel like it. I haven't edited this one much since I made it because I'm not sure what to do with it yet. I do agree that the !'s are probably a bit more distracting. I was trying to make it seems as if my mother was saying that, but...it really doesn't work. Someday I will take this thing aside and dismantle. Thank you so much for the actual *critique!* Thanks for complimenting my intelligence lol.

--
"The most important things in life are inevitably cliché."

--Chuck Klosterman

wow i like this one its really cool. it has alot of sentiment(sp) and meaning. it is powerful in alot of ways.

--
only on the day you can fool a fool is the day you are truely a fool

Of course.

If you're trying to set aside what your mother says, don't be afraid to toy with quotes, spacing, italics, parentheses, etc to signify it.

--
"Before you can break the rules of rhyme and rhythm, you do have to know what those rules are about." -- John Tydeman

~Christians-QI-Team LitCrit

Thanks!
<3

--
"The most important things in life are inevitably cliché."

--Chuck Klosterman