NaMee
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Draft: How I wonder what you are
🕑 Added 2025-02-18 01:35:51 +0000 UTCI want to get better at sharing some draft / works in progress here on Patreon! This is a poem I've been tinkering with, and shows up in my book manuscript. I wrote it during a workshop for adoptees with my friend Lee Herrick (another adoptee poet! and California's poet laureate!)
How I Wonder What You Are
Everyone knew I was growing a light inside my body, so they gave me gifts:
chenille socks and quilted blankets and tear-free shampoo. Even its end
would be powdered in lavender
I did vinyasas I bent my spine I gazed forward
I bought a carseat I did not drink shots I folded blankets
Every morning I swallowed a banana tree.
I wrote the first poem and the middle poem and the last poem we would give it.
The day I pushed a sunrise into the room, all our records were bathed in gold
His birth such a wonder, I have a certificate.
They say they grow up fast but I remember the first
hundred days in slow motion. The tide
of the faucet water, my hand the moon, how far
from drowning he could ever be. I saw a thousand
blinks. One million breaths. His little boat lips d r i f t i n g
He laid on the beach under my chin, I stargazed into the top of his head.
Twinkle, twinkle, diamond sky baby
These things I did because I knew I would keep him.
An orphan takes forty weeks to make the face they face you with
It is not a surprise when they see you and see you.
How did my birthmother prepare
What kind of planet did she give birth to
What songs did she sing until she didn't
Comments
Christy NaMee Eriksen
🙏🏽💛💛
MK MacNaughton
The way you write is a dance. Such a beautiful, physical way to be there with you 💜
Christy NaMee Eriksen
Thank you 🙏🏽
Holly Klein
Palpable and poignant—spare, though full. Finished or in-progress, this is a beautiful piece—grateful for your sharing it!
Christy NaMee Eriksen
Thank you for reading!
Blake
Thank you for sharing! So beautiful. 💔
