He leans toward me, swaying closer, perhaps
to see Abstract Expressionism on ceramics.
The vessels mimic rust like hills of prairie
agates, only large as humans. He strokes
inky air & relaxes his fists into two round
balls. Come here often? he asks, like grass
snagging his hair, white & grey as volcanic
ash. I imagine two hands smearing the ground
of me under prairie fire. His thumb touches a
well in my pain, my palm, where he grinds
his nail into me. Moving away, I notice a little
wound that enables me to breathe. Six times
a year to see the exhibits, I say, like saintly
mercy kneeling over prairie need.
Jan Wiezorek writes from Michigan. His debut poetry chapbook, Forests of Woundedness, is forthcoming from Seven Kitchens Press. Wiezorek’s poetry has appeared in The London Magazine, The Westchester Review, Lucky Jefferson, The Broadkill Review, BlazeVOX, LEON Literary Review, orangepeel literary magazine, and elsewhere. He taught writing at St. Augustine College, Chicago, and wrote the e-book Awesome Art Projects That Spark Super Writing (Scholastic 2011). Wiezorek’s poems have been awarded by the Poetry Society of Michigan and nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Visit janwiezorek.substack.com.
Image: “Encaustic Fire Elemental” by Bill Cawley
Pine Hills Review 