“Anamnesis” by P. Hoffmeister

Pedro Hoffmeister is a poet and novelist whose books have earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Library Journal, and Kirkus, and named to Best Books Of The Year by the American Library Association, VOYA, and Bank Street. He was the 2015 Poet-In-Residence of Joshua Tree National Park.

Anamnesis

My mother said, “You’re the man of the family,”
pulled the station wagon up to the Safeway
grocery dumpster
I was seven years old, the desert heat
warping and wilting the contents, as I scrounged
through produce, outdated boxes and cans,
my student asks me just now,
“Are you allergic to anything?”

The atmospheric river over the Pacific Northwest
holds 27 times the water
of the Mississippi River,
sky vapor moisture amassed
multi-states wide,

but how is this possible, or anything, really?
We whispered our collections of great faith
placed the body of Christ on our tongues

my mother keeps a hammer in her dining room
for the rough-hewn wooden cross on the side table
each morning, nailing her prayers to God.

I was with her at the dumpster,
I was on my knees beside her,
yet I have trouble closing my eyes,
and the floor seems far away.

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