GRIZZLY PEAR
You adults have no imagination. Maybe he exists after all!
She threatened to write a letter to Santa.
It’s for his eyes only!
I couldn’t read it.
But then she’s eight.
Didn’t get around to it.
Or so I thought.
The morning after Christmas,
I found a folded piece of paper under computer,
She wrote it after all!
We guessed right.
She got everything but the candy canes.
Mama maybe forgot those on purpose.
䷎
mountains
underground
hidden potential
prevails
She jumped on a boulder.
He pointed at his sister.
“Statue of Liberty!”
She foisted an invisible torch.
He played by himself,
She made a new friend .
Vicky was her name,
He didn’t want to leave the park.
We fed birds at the pond,
The geese are big and slow,
Small ducks darted for the crumbs.
We escaped the descending onslaught of pigeons.
䷾
Our world opens up,
Our time grows shorter,
Crossing the river,
A fox wets her tail.
I tried to explain the Hegelian Dialectic.
First we start with a Thesis
I held up my left hand.
Then comes an Antithesis
I held up my right hand.
I clapped!
It becomes a synthesis.
Then!
You know what happens?
I held up my left hand.
The Synthesis becomes a new Thesis!
After three cycles of gesticulating, she looked at me.
That’s boring!
Oh yeah. What was the question again?
䷎䷇
ocean sublimity
constantancy
steadfast
unity
13:50
I slid under the table during lunch.
He exclaimed, Daddy’s disappearing!
He repeated it until his sister looked up from her bowl.
They laughed and slid under the table together.
Momma yelled at the three of us.
21:00
Time’s up, let’s go to sleep.
10 more minutes!
Ok, 10 more minutes.
21:10
Ask mommy if we have to go sleep right now!
I said we’re done. I make the rules around here too.
You’re not a parent!
Huh?
Mommy said you’re a third child!
䷮䷜
slowly
golden sled
silver screen
tardy slumber
He held up a cashew
这个叫作什么?
(What do you call this?)
It’s called a cashew.
中文呢?
(In chinese?)
Mama thought for a moment.
这是所腰果
(This is called yāoguǒ)
妈妈我想要腰果!
(Mama, I want a cashew!)
She gave him one
He wanted another
He took the three cashews and placed them on his empty plate.
A little smile with squinty eyes.
䷆
subterranean springs
support multitudes
salutary or sinister?
I’m a dinosaur!
I’m a dinosaur too!
I’m going to eat your head!
Don’t eat my head!
Eat his head!
They looked at me.
“What did I do?”
You are a Monster!
Daddy is a Monster!
Let’s eat his head!
䷀䷫
hidden dragon
unmasked
little dragons
give chase
The boy diligently cleared his playmat,
Long after sister and momma went upstairs.
He never cleans up.
What happened?
Momma had announced
Everything on that mat is going into the garage!
As she told me the story, he piped up.
我的耳朵没有瞎! (My ears aren’t blind!)
䷗
wax and wane
eleven days
benefits
What happened?
我喜欢打屁股.
WHAT?!
我喜欢打屁股!
(I like to hit my butt!)
He did not escape mom’s angry lecture.
Don’t play on the stairs!
䷒䷊
a lapdog no profit
a chicken no blame
beware shifty stairs
He drew an oblong circle,
Added a couple eyes
And a toothy grin.
我画了一个 skeleton face.
(I drew a “skeleton face”)
“Huh?”
He pointed at the chalk drawing on the wall.
我画了一个 skeleton face!
“你说那个是骷髅头?”
(Are you saying that is a skeleton head?)
对!
(Correct!)
“英文叫 skull.”
(In English, that’s a skull.)
我画了一个 skull.
He beamed a toothy grin.
䷱䷆
a scorpion broke
off the tripod leg
bronze green canine
Tofu 豆腐 Dòufu
Potato 土豆 Tǔdòu
Potato (Pəˈtādō)
Tomato (Təˈmādō)
Dòufu
Tǔdòu!
Pəˈtādō
Təˈmādō!
Dòufu
Tǔdòu!
Pəˈtādō
Təˈmādō!
䷙䷈
dou — dou — dō — dō!