Observations of Father

COHORT 4

The petals of peonies fall differently when they fall from the shoulders of him

Which is to say leaving something behind is a silent & graceless act or is it him

Unsure of the body. To come home is to cut vegetables & talk in passing when 

The words splayed before you say more in-between. You forget this, you forget him

When you overeat at the dinner table & his language slips–you

political enabler, misunderstand me with words, returning birthright, you–Him

Weaving together the seams in speaking to matriarchy & speaking of matriarchy 

When loving is in the way mother’s laugh tangles gently with hair. Him

Learning masculinity outside of newspapers & white knuckles–you 

straying into adulthood, mother’s daughter, my daughter, you–Him

By the side of a woman howling into relapse always asking

Questions he only hears in synagogue, him relapsing to say ma & him

Promising to be good & wishing her gone & peonies gone & there 

Is nothing more beautiful than boy becoming man stretching into hymn.

Writing: Carolyn Stein

Music: Audrey Kang

Art: Kaitlyn Zhou