By Li-Young Lee
Another word for father is worry.
Worry boils the water
for tea in the middle of the night.
Worry trimmed…
Worry boils the water
for tea in the middle of the night.
Worry trimmed…
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- By Sharon OldsBut I love the I, steel I-beam
that my father sold. They poured the pig iron
into the mold, and it fed out slowly,
a bending jelly in the bath, and it hardened,
Bessemer, blister, crucible, alloy, and he
marketed it, and bought bourbon, and... - By Karl KnightsIt’s Boxing Day and I’m nearly ten and a half.
I got the camouflaged Action Man for Christmas.
I told … - By Maya MarshallThe myth is Grandaddy’s mother
birthed twelve children
by twelve discrete men. I asked what she did for… - By Suzanne S. RancourtI can remember my father bringing home spruce gum.
He worked in the woods and filled his pockets
with … - By Richard SikenDriving, dogs barking, how you get used to it, how you make
the new streets… - By Jean ValentineThe hornet holds on to the curtain, winter
sleep. Rubs her legs. Climbs the curtain.
Behind her the cedars sleep lightly,
like guests. But I am the guest.
The ghost cars climb the ghost highway. Even my hand
over the page adds to the ‘room... - By Julien StrongEventually my stepfather grew tired
of his exile in the basement
and left. She wept and begged him
not to go but he packed his Hummingbird
guitar and soldering irons and moved in
with a woman he’d met at the corner store.
And my mother took... - By Julien Strongmy mother tells me, and proceeds
to elaborate at gruesome length.
But don’t all gods and heroes get off
to a rocky start? Young Theseus thrashed
in his fish shack, Zeus sent abroad to avoid
being lunch for his dad. I am twelve
and obsessed with... - By Kiki PetrosinoSo I lean back & Redford asks, “Water warm enough?”
& I don’t answer because I’m holding my breath.
I don't know why he asks.
He never uses the faucet to shampoo my afro—just an old clay jar.
Redford fills the jar at the... - By James CagneyI stood on the ledge
of the bathroom sink
irritated, resolved
my mother’s clippers
a growling chainsaw
in my hand.
I recalled my cousin––
seven years older––
who humbly bragged
over three fresh pubic cords
he found freshly minted
falling through his fingers.
... - By Sharon OldsI did not deserve to be beaten,
and I did not deserve ballet lessons––
except insofar as everyone deserves ballet lessons.
Me mum thought I was well worth beating.
She would not have thought that I deserved to starve.
I deserved the milk in her... - By Nikki GiovanniI watched Mommy
Cook
Though I cooked
With Grandmother
With Grandmother I learned
To pluck chickens
Peel carrots
Turn chittlins inside out
Scrub pig feet
With Mommy I watched
leftovers for stew
Or vegetable soup
Great northern beans
Mixed collards turnips and mustard greens
Garlic cloves Bay Leaves
Very beautifully green
Stiff so fresh
With just a... - By Stephen KuusistoI listen for the footsteps
Of my dogs:
Little taps from their via sacra.
When I hear them on the stairs
I know the happiness
Of Vivaldi!
Borges, if only they'd given you a dog
You'd have known
Blindness stands for nothing.
—Do not concern yourself with the whole. - By Raymond AntrobusFunny that my mother was a clown
a college dropout who joined the circus
with another clown who made inflatable giants.
It's funny. His name was George,
a Marxist who swore he was serious
when he said the men who tried
to mow him down in... - By Raymond AntrobusMy mother says my father had a heartless sense of humour.
That winter she fell, ice on the road—
She can't forget her bruise, his laughter.
Not even his shadow helped her up or soothed her.
He watched from the kerb—boozy red-eyed Dad—
laughed when... - By Kerrin McCaddenDear train wreck, dear terrible engines, dear spilled freight,
dear unbelievable mess, all these years later I think
to write back. I was not who I am now. A sail is a boat,
a bark is a boat, a mast is a boat... - By Chelsea B. DesAutelsAt first it was easy to tell the story
because it was actually happening
right then so we could tell each other
the story of how a disease infiltrates
a body but even then we did not recount
all the parts only the best ones
ending... - By Anni LiuWhen she returns, we mostly sit in separate rooms, faces down
into our screens. I hear her leaving him
messages on WeChat. She won’t get out of bed, sleeps with her glasses on.
There is no gentle enough way to wake someone
in this... - By Anuradha BhowmikCANDYDANDY24
Enter new Away message:
// LOVE ME 0R HATE ME //
Y0U STiLL CAN`T ERASE ME !!