Allowance
I am ten.
My mother sits in a black
rocking chair in the parlor
and tells stories of a country school
surrounded by ricefields
and no roads.
I stand in the kerosene light
behind her,
earning my allowance.
A penny
for each white hair I pull.
Copyright Credit: James Masao Mitsui, "Allowance" from From a Three-Cornered World. Copyright © 1997 by James Masao Mitsui. Reprinted by permission of University of Washington Press.
Source: From a Three-Cornered World (University of Washington Press, 1997)