Poems by John Pilkey
pigweed bondage


when the shimmer of summer draws up
dragonfly from the face of stagnant pool
left by latter rain in foundation pit of unbuilt boards
a pigweed forest reeks with allergenic joy

in secrecies that only lowest crawlers know
when caught on hands and knees
down in gray-green grip of tangle
among merciless stalks where slithering darts

of restless serpents rustling pass
from thick to open bask of sunstroke
hammering throb of ecstatic suffocation
from overstrained ligaments at work on intemperate grasses

with twisting torque as torturing tool
to burnish an afternoon of wonderful woe
where tenebritic clutch gathers heat
contrary to laws of shade in graceless gropings

for a place of patience in thunderstruck
helplessness of imminent squeeze
or piquant puncture of heel of hand
like gasping sinner in giddy throes of incineration



John Davis Pilkey


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