by Darrell Lindsey
He changes a flat tire
for a stranger on a desert highway,
leaves a fifty dollar tip
for a waitress with four kids
and an unemployed husband,
listens to a veteran
in a convenience store parking lot
whose mind is still in some jungle
far, far away.
He walks for hours in deep woods
with a lantern,
looks for the lost Appalachian child
he heard about on the news,
turns away from cameras and reporters
when the child is at last found.
On weekends, he visits nursing homes
where he laughs with the forgotten,
plays card games and brings fruit.
He may well be the silhouette of your neighbor,
but he is better known as Mr. Anonymous.
Darrell Lindsey is the author of Edge of the Pond (Popcorn Press, 2012), and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize ( 2007) and a Rhysling Award ( 2014). He won the 2012 Science Fiction Poetry Association Contest ( Long Form category), as well the 2014 Balticon Poetry Contest. His work has appeared in more than 60 journals and anthologies.
I love this so much! Yes! It’s this sort of person that graces the edges of crowds and makes this world a better, kinder place without requiring all the fanfare. Thank you.