collaborative storytelling that is equal parts critical and creative

I. chinese tooth fairy 

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before my dad at age ten

lost his mom to lymphoma

he got a tooth pulled

and cried and cried in pain 

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on their walk home

his ma ma bought him an asian pear which

in Nanchang they usually saved for

New Years as a delicacy 

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II. my grandma speaks to her older sister

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let me hold your folded hand

I’d rather my fingers curl for good

if it meant yours would unfold

and the tremors would stop

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feel me brush your eyelids

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let my cold fingers transfer

freshness to your eyes caked with

dried yellow residue and

let the faint smile on your lips spread

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my daughter and granddaughter whom I

pulled out of bed, still jetlagged, at 6 am

to see you and now my daughter’s eyes are filling

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she is remembering that time you snuck her an asian pear

she was still a little girl and

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you told her not to tell

her cousins (your own children)

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asian pears were expensive and 

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you had only one to give 

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III. my roommate cuts us fruit

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she is allergic to most pears

except those giant asian pears

of which her mom dropped off two

 

in our kitchen the fluorescent light

melts into warmer yellow lampglow

where we gather by the dining table

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heads buried eyebrows furrowed

necks craned down to absorb

body parts on screens and books 

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I sense a fruit bowl emerge

filled with sliced asian pears and

when I pick up a wedge I am startled by its size

 

my roommate cut them large on purpose

better for sharing, she says

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