Mama, come back.
Why did you leave
now that I am learning you?
The landlady next door
how she apologizes
for my rough brown skin
to her tenant from Hong Kong
as if I were her daughter,
as if she were you.
How do I say I miss you
your scolding
your presence
your roast loin of pork
more succulent, more tender
than any hotel chef’s?
The fur coat you wanted
making you look like a polar bear
and the mink-trimmed coat
I once surprised you
on Christmas morning.
Mama, how you said “importment”
for important,
your gold tooth flashing
an insecurity you dared not bare,
wanting recognition
simply as eating noodles
and riding in a motor car
to the supermarket
the movie theater
adorned in your gold and jade
as if all your jewelry
confirmed your identity
a Chinese woman in America.
How you said “you better”
always your last words
glazed through your dark eyes
following me fast as you could
one November evening in New York City
how I thought “Hello, Dolly!”
showed you an America
you never saw.
How your fear of being alone
kept me dutiful in body
resentful in mind.
How my fear of being single
kept me
from moving out.
How I begged your forgiveness
after that one big fight
how I wasn’t wrong
but needed you to love me
as warmly as you hugged strangers.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- The Golden Year! poem – Alfred Austin
- The Gift by Rabindranath Tagore
- The New Church Organ by Will McKendree Carleton
- [ I think I’m there? ] poem – Ygor Noblott poems | Poetry Monster
- Secrets of Academic Success: Passion
- Rimini by Rudyard Kipling
- Turns by Tony Harrison
- It is a Show by Rixa White
- CIA Dope Calypso by Allen Ginsberg
- Bishop’s Caundle by William Barnes
- Along The Way by Rabindranath Tagore
- Song—A Health to ane I loe dear by Robert Burns
- Pad, Pad by Stevie Smith
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 2. Old Yew, which graspest at the sto poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Late Fragment by Raymond Carver
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
