< Back to Issue 13

POETRY

A Return

“A Return” read by Kimberly Gibson-Tran.

I met the kids in the gazebo to draw fish. 
Our crayons melted. The sun wedged into the mountains. 
 
Half of love is touch. 
I press down on the fingernail moon. 
 
The other half is loss. 
 
When I returned from being gone, I lost the words for colors. 
 
The kids gave them back to me: pig’s blood, water-silver 
until again I could scale the rainbow. 
 
Jesus, after dying, welcomed his disciples’ touch. 
He called them, waited with fish by the breakfast fire. 
 
I think about that, his asking them over and over 
for their love.

---

Kimberly Gibson-Tran has writings appearing or forthcoming in Passages North, Third Coast, Porter House, Dunes Review, Reed Magazine, The Windhover, Jelly Squid, Saranac Review, Paper Dragon, Thin Air Magazine, Saw Palm, and elsewhere. Raised by medical missionaries in Thailand, she now lives in Princeton, Texas, and works in college counseling.

---

Next (Rachel Ann Russell) >
< Previous (Sarah Watkins)

---

Image: The Finished Painting by Amy, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.com.