Theme
Memory
6 poems, newest first.
00Studio Portrait, Accra, 1974In the photograph my mother is nineteen
and has not met the country I was born in.1 critique01Sestina for a Flat I RentedI still have the key to a house with a different door.
It was not mine for more than a year.1 critique02Small InheritanceHer keys still turn the lock, though she does not.
Once, this hallway held more furniture than light.Waiting on a reader03The Long Way to Forgiving My FatherHe taught me how to check the oil
by never once explaining why,1 critique04Instructions for Leaving a CountryTake the photographs out of their frames; the frames are heavier than the years. Take the recipe your mother never wrote down, which means take your mother, which means take the morning she stood over the pot and would not say how much. Leave the plates. Leave the good ones especially — you will not be the kind of person who has occasions for a while.1 critique05Kitchen, 3 a.m.The fridge hums its one note
and I stand in its light1 critique