Illustration by Patrick B. Fernandez
She sits loud-spoken, settling stiff body on stiff mattress
with soft gray curls kissing
humid air and I watch
her hands sweep upward strokes, needle caressing
beanie baby with rat-punctured holes.
I swear she sparkled with the resiliency
of bearing seven children in one eye, and the fragility
of miscarrying in another.
She sets wool on linen on cotton over my fevered body
smooth lined hands snapping
stray threads, and I listen
as her tsinelas meet marble, reaching
porcelain spoon in fresh bird’s nest, and I lie
with layered blankets and sugar-kissed stains,
the lull of Hokkien pulling me to sleep,
carrying a handful of her in my pocket.
Jessamine is a feminist, a proud WOC, and a recent UBC Psychology graduate. She currently resides in Vancouver, BC, and was born and raised in Taiwan, with roots in the Philippines and China.