delicate days

thoughtful empty weather
makes a place for you to
love in and love you do

in a cartoon of a house
a dormered window me
fists under my chin dreaming
eyes under my brows calm

singing,
mandarin songs
only mothers know

the roof is also old
so father invents work
in a white 2000s model
Dodge Ram 2500 van

armoring immigrant
owned businesses–
corner stores, beer stores,

all along Old York Rd
I delighted in all sorts
of Vietnamese delicacies
squatting on asphalt flats