Announcing my innocence is important to me,
she says with a pale face, wheat coat and handbag,
where, she says, she wants to say something positive,
after a police car turns the corner near two dressed
deer hanging from their hind legs, as much stunned
by death as once alive β while the man at the corner
imagines evil, pointedly spits out a slur, then yells at
the baby playing in the yard to come inside
β while we all listen for bells β from antique fire
engines, schools at 10:15 a.m., towers, belfries β
to hear bells ringing, as cast from copper or handheld,
even, with wooden handles, sounding out to ourselves
through the fog, as you and I bend to each other
and affirm that the ringing and the hearing of them
are thought to be in themselves something positive.
Jan Wiezorek π
City of Hope
Author Reading
About the Author
Jan Wiezorek writes from Michigan. His work appears, or is forthcoming, in The London Magazine, The Westchester Review, Lucky Jefferson, The Broadkill Review, Loch Raven Review, Minetta Review, Talon Review, Modern Poetry Review, The Passionfruit Review, Sparks of Calliope, The Wise Owl, Poetry Center San JosΓ©, and The Orchards Poetry Journal, among other journals. He taught writing at St. Augustine College, Chicago, and wrote the e-book Awesome Art Projects That Spark Super Writing (Scholastic, 2011). He posts at janwiezorek.substack.com.