Chitra Ganesh, To Assemble a Flying Car (detail), 2018, linocut on tan BFK Rives. Courtesy of the artist & Durham Press.
Bushel Basket
A woman is not an apronful
Of peaches
Loosed on a slate drainboard
Late in lackadaisical
Sun, that sweet billiard break
Of wobble and
Rubbed cheeks.
But take peaches, loaded thick
In a bushel basket.
That one, middle way down,
Small, but too ripe
For culling out,
The weight of overfill
Above, pressing it
Flush between slats,
Where it bruises, a slight
Nectary rivulet
Turning woodgrain
Dark,
And, not taking eyes from it
Till it reaches
Bottom,
This tickle
At the back of the throat.
Thomas Johnson has a chapbook, _Footholds _(Ironwood Press), and a full-length book, _Homing Signals _(Stone-Marrow Press). (1975)