Poem of the Week:
Craig Santos Perez
from understory
(to my wife, nālani
and our 7-month old daughter, kai)
kai cries
from teething--
how do
new parents
comfort a
child in
pain, bullied
in school,
shot by
a drunk
APEC agent?
-kollinelderts--
nālani gently
massages kai's
gums with
her fingers-
how do
we wipe
away tear--
gas and
blood? provide
shelter from
snipers? disarm
occupying armies?
nālani sings
to kai
a song
about the
Hawaiian alphabet--
what dreams
will echo
inside detention
centers and
cross teething
borders to
soothe the
thousands of
children atop
la bestia?
#unaccompanied--
nālani rubs
kai's back
warm with
coconut oil--
how do
we hold
violence at
arm's length
when raising
[our] hands
up is
no longer
a universal
sign of
surrender? #black
livesmatter--
kai finally
falls asleep
in nālani's
cradling arms,
skin to
skin against
the news--
when do
we tell
our daughter
there's no
safe place
for us
to breathe #...
***
From Hawai'i Review special online issue, Write for Ferguson. With special thanks to editors Anjoli Roy and No'u Revilla.
Used with permission.
***
Craig Santos Perez is a native Chamoru from the Pacific Island of Guåhan (Guam). He is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Creative Writing Program in the English Department at the University of Hawai'i, Mānoa.
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