by Anne Kazak
Cafe Secret
Lone woman in a high chair
at the end of a long table,
her fists circling a breakfast burrito.
I didn’t notice her sit down –
didn’t see her place an order.
Woman with Burrito
is my first inkling of her existence—
angst weighted by some sort of filling.
The painting appeared
before I tried not to stare
at how she grips her food like a baseball bat
before I look down at my half-eaten pie
to take a dainty bite of beef, potato.
What did she think about when I didn’t know she was there?
Did she notice my hat hair?
She holds heaviness in her hands.
My fork breaks up the shapely turnover.
I push it around my plate.
Perhaps she studied my sunhat,
resting on the other seat,
my white, long sleeve, SPF shirt—
my khaki capris.
I accept a coffee refill,
take another bite.
This empanada is a work of art.
Kari Wergeland’s work has appeared in over 100 journals and anthologies, including Atlanta Review, Catamaran Literary Reader, and Fourth River. Her chapbook, Breast Cancer: A Poem in Five Acts (Finishing Line Press), was a category finalist in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards. Wannabe Blue, her new poetry collection, was released through Cold River Press. Wergeland has worked in libraries up and down the West Coast and once reviewed children’s books for The Seattle Times.
kariwçgeland.com www.instagram.com/kariwergeland/ www.facebook.com/KariAWergeland
Anne Kazak is a psychologist and photographer who cannot remember a time when she didn’t have a camera in her hand. Using cameras or drones, she loves landscapes, capturing the beauty of nature, focusing on light, patterns, and telling a story about places. Her journeys draw her to abandoned spaces and the documenting the history of institutions. As vestiges of the past, these places prompt us to rethink the present. She also frequently uses diptychs or triptychs to juxtapose discrepancies and reveal unexpected connections. www.annekazakphotography.comhttps://www.instagram.com/annekazak.