UNDESERVING OF MERCY

My peripheral vision is swarming

with obscene gestures

cast,

like spells,

by cyclopean witches

Half-blind hags

with no depth perception

thrust their fingers into the air

with the conviction

of the persecuted,

the drowned

and the burned

the coven closes in,

encircling me

like wild turkeys

performing funeral rites

for a dead

street cat

I pray for mercy

I don't quite deserve,

I’d accept even transformation

I'll live as a frog,

I welcome the trials and tribulations

of a pollywog

anything

but the fate

to which these women are destined

chained

to the blackened pine,

the smell of their own flesh cooking

The only devil

they consorted with,

the one in the hearts of the fathers and brothers

who will light the match,

watch the show,

then

content with a job well done

retreat to their empty homes

settle into their straw beds

immune to the dreams

that guilt can bring

each with a plucked eye
under his pillow