Anonymous

Photographer - Tobi Brun

Anonymous

New Mexico—I know casa
of pecans, orchards dusting
mirage men traveling, helicopters
over pine mountains, sights
too complex to read, face of rocks
in a valley town, with a shed
as his home—and as he rises
from his cot, neat, beside rake,
hoe, blanket—he gives me no name,
to be anonymous, but extends his
chapped hand and a frame for photos,
twisted from cigarette packs, where I
keep a picture of my parents, the base
laced with twine, standing as artwork
—protected brown and crème in plastic
wrappers, tight as a hairline—and I
didn’t think to offer him payment
for his work, as we rarely do, we who
assume everything as entitlement—
so, now I hold the frame like his
fingertips are touching mine, with
all the anonymity of cellophane.

Jan Wiezorek writes from Michigan. His work appears, or is forthcoming, in The London Magazine, The Westchester Review, Lucky Jefferson, Loch Raven Review, Minetta Review, Talon Review, Modern Poetry Review, The Passionfruit Review, Sparks of Calliope, The Wise Owl, Poetry Center San José, and The Orchards Poetry Journal, among other journals. He taught writing at St. Augustine College, Chicago, and wrote the ebook Awesome Art Projects That Spark Super Writing (Scholastic, 2011). He posts at janwiezorek.substack.com.