Timothy Pilgrim

Seduced by metaphor


"She was with him again, a heartbeat unbroken, where time subsided into dawn, and the sunset gave way to the stars, wheeling across the night." - Leslie Silko in Ceremony

Ceremony has a way of taking hold.
I should have closed my eyes
one more time. Imagined
your story arriving. Ember arcing
under evening sky.
Siren moving above me,

melodic chant making stars unwhirl.
Maybe recited an old invocation,
brought back ancient night.
Campfire purple at dusk
again casting your shadow
on the full moon.

I should have told of a goddess of hope.
Accepted all her rituals
kindled, new.
Ceremony has a way of taking hold.
I should have created a tale
with fire in your eyes becoming you.

Originally appeared in Jeopardy Magazine, Western Washington University, 1998



Timothy Pilgrim (a journalism professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham) is a Pacific Northwest poet who has published nearly 90 poems, mostly in literary journals and anthologies of poetry, such as "Idaho's poets: A Centennial Anthology" (University of Idaho Press) and “Weathered Pages: The Poetry Pole” (Blue Begonia Press).

Current Issue:
December 2011

Russ Brickey
Jackson Burgess
Robert Demaree
James H. Duncan
Carol Lynn Grellas
Paul Hostovsky
Seif-Eldeine Och
Jane Olivier
Timothy Pilgrim
Russell Rowland
M. Travis Walsh

Home