Art by Audrey Njo

half removed, half planted
on the living room carpet.
clinging to the clutter of spilled
toys
and their imagined personalities.

half Filipina, half not
a wide-eyed stare
stains in iridescent shock from the cold tv light.

half refracted, half absorbed
are the sorrows that seep from the screen.
the News is on about the same distant tragedy
about names and faces like my own.

I half look at them.
I half see them.

half tilapia, half rice.
She calls me to the kitchen,
and I eat with my hands
every grain of her love.