"Vanishment" by Jordan Rice

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend January 30, 2019   Vanishment   Jordan Rice

He says I live far-far away as we build a robot out of blocks. The heart's a dollar music box he chose on his last birthday wringing every handle for the song about a star. This year a star ornament dashed all colors by an artist the summer he was born. We hung it by his window like the star he sings about at night. It's not a star that fell inward long ago as its light fled out. Every troubled night that first year of his life I held him on my chest and called his name into his sleep until he calmed enough to watch the moon arc past the blinds above us. Do you have two hearts because you're a boy and a girl? You're a girl but you're my dad and not and then he says his mother's partner's name. Nothing changes until it must I told myself when I lay down on the surgeon's table. Drowsy now he sings again about the star which is a song about a traveler grateful for the light to chart a course.            Copyright © 2019 Jordan Rice. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "Here's a poem about a song my son used to sing about a star that someone counted on to find their way long ago—in English, the song speaks to light and maybe love and in French, the lyrics query commitment and when things might change." —Jordan Rice   Jordan Rice is the author of Constellarium (Orison Books, 2016), a finalist for the 2017 Kate Tufts Award. She is an executive editor for Dublin Poetry Review and lives in Richmond, Virginia. Poetry by Rice   Constellarium (Orison Books, 2016) "Lullaby (with Exit Sign)" by Hadara Bar-Nadav "Spilled Sugar" by Thylias Moss "Dear Mothers of America" by Adrian Blevins January Guest Editor: TC Tolbert   Thanks to TC Tolbert, author of Gephyromania (Ahsahta Press, 2014), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Tolbert about his curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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