my boy looks up saying Carolina sky
is different from sky in Vietnam.
Nguyen Quoc Phong, Nguyen Quoc Phong,
he writes his name on the fogged windshield.
The anniversary of adoption, he asks
too many questions. I try to explain
day and night. We are somewhere between
home and his dad's new house,
coconut cake on the back seat
and presents tied with white ribbon.
That is not enough.
He wants to know how separate worlds revolve.
the crossing of paths at certain days of the year.
I apologize, driving us south,
remembering the day I reached half-way
around the world, $1600.00 in my fist,
believing I could give him the sun and the moon.
from NIGHT STUDENT
3 comments:
Lovely-and very thought provoking too.
I've never met this child of yours, but I feel I Know him and I know how blessed you are to have him and how blessed he is to have you. Your poems about him touch my heart.
You know this is my most favorite piece of all, next to the one about Aunt Jewell. This just stirs something in me ... for I can still see him small and curiously wanting to know everything! I love you! Will see you a day or two after Christmas!!!!
(My computer died ... so I'm on a borrowed one.)
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