Poem for Brian

NOTE: An adopted friend of a friend just got diagnosed with cancer and will be starting chemo in a couple of weeks. I have never met him but have heard horrific stories about him and his sister, also an adoptee. I guess this is for all adoptees who wear a physical reminder of their adoption.

Came into this world harelip split open,

figured it would help him tell stories

but was just a baby

with nothing to draw from

so lit lies and fanned them

with the books he got for Christmas

but didn’t read--

scorching his story into

pages penned by white dudes.

Twisted leg broke his pace,

kept sentences unpredictable--

kept one foot where he was born

by choice, helped him look East

while his stories stayed “too yellow.”

Eventually, eyes turned from slanted to hollow.

Dealt a dick hand by dirty dealers

full of history no one knew,

didn’t bother to read--

but they liked his stories well enough,

felt sorry he stopped writing

to lay his head in common ground.