Published:
Chitra Ganesh, How to Assemble a Flying Car (detail), 2018, linocut on tan BFK Rives. Courtesy of the artist & Durham Press.
Adjusting the Depth of Field
after a version of Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother,
Nipomo, California, March 1936
The smaller the window
the more you will see
clearly—
and the more you see clearly—
such focus—
the more the world seems flat.
Decide what you would rather leave
nebulous, what you should hide
in the fog of its own shape:
the bleary
suitcase set with the suggestion of
an empty plate
before the infant—less vague—
fading into his mother—
the crisp lines of her face—
the distinct pole holding up the lean-to,
the land beyond—
an impression of dust and trees.
We see
no ruined field—
the tiny peas lost to frost—
no hint of work.