John Popielaski
Pressed
Before the sheriff laid the board
on Giles Corey, ruby-throated
hummingbirds were leaving Salem
or preparing to, the last wave
of the goldenrod and jewelweed
blooming, fall impending
like a sentence, and the length
of sunlit days not what they used to be.
You change a life by adding
weight in one way or another
to its lightness, and it matters
mightily how many
who internally dissent
stand by, stone after stone.
He lasted three days,
all that forest breathing
north and south and west of him.
John Popielaski is the author of several poetry collections, including, most recently, "That Special Something" from Sheila-Na-Gig Editions, as well as the novel "Attuning" from Broken Tribe Press. His poems have recently appeared in, or are forthcoming in, journals such as Cutleaf, Gramercy Review, HAWKEYE, and Rawhead.