Something Else
My post-pre-natal is sticky
sesame tofu and ginger veggie
dumplings, reward for my blood
and urine, and that little worry,
my companion to every appointment.
Who would have thought Queen
House closed on Tuesdays? Dumpling-
less, I succumb to the unsweetened
nausea of tropical iced tea.
She might have taken a different
route, gone on another errand.
Instead, she’s on Castro Street,
helping me up, gentle as the
California light falling around us,
as if plucking me from the juniper
outside the Kaiser Permanente
is just what she’s meant to do
today. All in a day’s work.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, Sweetie.”
She holds me to her, murmurs
to the security guard on our way
to the bathroom. Tomorrow, she
may be an ordinary American:
middle-aged, Asian, making her
way around Mountain View as
the sun brings us February.
Today, she is something else.
Naomi Dean teaches ESL at a public elementary school in the Twin Cities, Minnesota, where she lives with her husband, son, and daughter. Naomi’s work has recently appeared in Poetica, Sylvia, The Madrigal, NiftyLit, Collateral, Plainsongs and JAMA.