My daughter plucks almost ripe blackberries
next to chickens rustling on the other side of our
fence. Bok bok, she says. Sometimes the red juice
runs down her bony arms, her hands squeezing too tight.
Look, blood, she says, smiling to light Andromeda. Her
name means life and she believes in garden fairies, hiccupping
laughter and time—time, there’s always more of it.
A bobwhite calls out who who who and I thank my thumping
heart to be here, to be alive on a sunbeam afternoon in May. She
changes into khakis and asks me to wear adventurer shorts
instead of fancy skirts tomorrow.
Yes, yes, I nod, I want more than ever to be an adventurer—
forget swarming checklists and thundering fears for a
winged future. Clasping our sticky palms like a bee-pollen
prayer, we can thrust past the thorn line together.
Jen Mei Soong is an artist, writer and educator based in Northern California. Her collages are part of a series called “see you see me” exploring Asian identity and acts of resistance. Find her work at jensoong.com.