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A Letter to My Mother Who Tells Me “Everyone Asks About You, What Should I Tell Them?”
Diego Isaias Hernández Méndez, Convertiendse en Characoteles / Sorcerers Changing into Their Animal Forms (detail), 2013, oil on canvas. Arte Maya Tz’utujil Collection.
A Letter to My Mother Who Tells Me “Everyone Asks About You, What Should I Tell Them?”
Tell them my sorrows are everywhere.
They flow like railroad ties
From Bangor to Portland.
NO! Do not tell them a thing.
Give them pictures.
And smile. Show them these pictures.
This glossy of me wearing leather
In front of a mirror
Holding a knife and a poem.
Or this snapshot where I hold
A box of long needles
And a wet rope in my hands.
Read the introduction to feature poet John McKernan by Founding Editor Askold Melnyczuk entitled Where is My Lariat?: The Poetry of John McKernan. (1975)