John Skoyles

Coal Bin
June 9, 2013 Skoyles John

Coal Bin

 

Some witchy and slinky,

ready to coo on a pillow,

 

others nun-like, eyes open

with the wonder of a startled

 

sleepwalker—all bluntly bare.

My uncle stashed his harem

 

of goddess statues

in our coal bin

 

where I caught him

at the casement,

 

turning his bronze minxes

and virgins this way

 

and that, as innocent

as the slow boy next door

 

who spun a huge top

by a string above his lap

 

as he sang the hymn

about shepherds and sheep

 

on that street that was less

pasture and more tray

 

of ashes stubbed out

by the hand of the lord.

John Skoyles’ most recent book is Yes and No (Carnegie-Mellon, 2021).  He is the poetry editor of Ploughshares.