To Chew on Daisies


DEBBIE YEE i.


Thoughtless, our intrepid ancestors taking flight from one landmass to another, a bird passion and singularity, clinging to formation and wind-spent.


Troubled, to make claim to liberty, yet in proximity to the history of an oil-stained apron, a father’s small wages, the mystery of a grandfather recumbent in the worn recliner in the corner, the bud of a cigar in his hand concealing one missing digit.


Tempered, the way we measure hearty offspring, generational fertility, the contents of the tip jar and abounding hope aloft in home, the junction of a motherland, fortunate fathers, fortunate daughters.


ii.


There is a man who’s been asked to chew slowly on a bouquet of daisies, taste white petals, kinds both bitter and soft, and treat the mouthful like a rich stew of vegetables and fats. He is convinced he has macerated something beautiful.


Whether the man is my father and I a mere iteration of him: let go of the notion, the need to surmise the distance between two objects suspended.


Inquiry may serve no purpose other than dousing the flame found in native peppers, a shock to our saucy tongues, the lingering warmth in the sides of our cheeks that gives rise to tepid guesstimates of the worth in time, travel and pursuit.


iii.


Recall, that I am my own father, my own mother in this land. I am Brillo whisker forgiven by a mash of gerbera daisies.


Consider, migration is also the act of scouring the surfaces for ordinary pennies and accumulating them, growth punctuated in decades, not years.


Wait, for our birds will glide in from disparate points skyward, come to nest over a menu of floral grub. Mind me at rest, when I am neither earning your keep nor mine.


poetsandartists.com 5


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64