Timothy Pilgrim

Angle of repose

It is only by degrees
we arrived at love's central core.
One by one, like layered loam
scraped off bedrock
ready to support
some institution's graying weight,

we peeled lesser habits away.
Showering together was first to go --
your breasts streaking my chest,
mouth nuzzling lips,
spray erasing suds
I'd laid on your chin

with one bubbled stroke.
Late-night dinners went --
Bach swirling amid candled shadows,
your head snuggling in crook
of chin and throat,
our humming moistened by bordeaux,

dual notes drifting mixed
amid concerto wafting upward
cooling in waxened smoke.
Sleepy hours together turned fetal
became hug of knees --
no more pressing for warmth,

nose resting against neck
as breath ebbed and flowed
in perfumed hair,
thighs molded to derriere:
Instead, one morning caress
final layer removed

yielding granite for our love
together. At last
we had a fine foundation to build on.

(Originally appeared in Idaho Poets: A Centennial Anthology, 1988)



Pawnshop

Sky gray, out of hope, lover gone,
I take my best sonnet
to Gordon’s poem and pawn,
ask for cash, half value
on the open market: Still nothing
or is it nothing still.
Gordon takes all 14 lines on consignment,
puts them on an upper shelf
near compound miter saws,
two rows up from drills.
He refuses any better placement,
cites little rhyme, no refrain.
On impulse, I buy a worn-out Kirby cheap
to vacuum up the rain.

(Originally appeared in Jeopardy, 2005)




Destined to rhyme

I keep our poems together,
carry them hidden
in my canvas pack. Tied by cotton string,
they've grown used to folds

of each other's pages, yours
more worn than my own --
from reading, from being smoothed.
Sometimes by moonlight

I unbind them, scatter all
on a whim, pick one at random,
savor it awhile,
try placing you in my life. After a time

they come together naturally,
snuggle into place, dive deep
into darkness. I get the impression
they don't mind being bound.

(Originally appeared in Trestle Creek Review, 2001)




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:
June 2012

Kendall A. Bell
Nicole Borello
Robert Demaree
Carol Lynn Grellas
Bronwyn Haynes
Karen Kelsay
Timothy Pilgrim
Robert Lavett Smith

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