The Loneliest Whale in the World by Tom C. Hunley [by Nin Andrews]

Usually when a friend sends me a book in the mail, I pretend to be happy. I say, I can’t wait to read this!  But I’m lying. I do wait. I let the book serve as a paper weight on my desk for who knows how long. Sometimes I have a little stack of gift books—an extra-large paper weight. I don’t like to admit this, but I am suspicious of books I don’t select from the local bookshop myself. Books that I didn’t open and flip through, read a few lines, and say, I want you. I’ll pay whatever you ask to spend time with you.

But recently, this book arrived in the mail by the poet, Tom C. Hunley, and I didn’t let it sit. Instead, I flipped it open and was immediately swept away. I read it once, and then, I read it again. I found so much to admire—from funny persona poems featuring rock, paper, and scissors to personal poems about aging and raising an autistic son to heart-breaking poems about adopting a teenage daughter . . .

I will post one here. I had a hard time choosing just one.  

 

Adopting a Teenager Via Sate Foster Care
by Tom C. Hunley

We want a daughter, we say.
We have a girl, say the ladies with clipboards.
She’s about to be hit by a bus.
She’s been in many wrecks.
She’s always got a break or a bruise.

She’s about to be hit by a bus? we echo.
The ladies with clipboards point
at the teen girl, arms outstretched
towards an advancing bus.

We run to her. We wrap ourselves around her.
We can’t stop the bus. It hits all three of us.
We wake in the hospital.
We’re your parents now, we smile.

I hate you, she says.
That bus was my boyfriend.
He buys me stuffed animals.
He says he loves me and would never hurt me.
He photoshopped our faces
over a bride and groom
and he’ll be sneaking into my window at night.

We’ve got ourselves a daughter, we say.

Comments

[Susan Aizenberg]

Thanks!