Passive Aggressive
for our mother
you are still the androgynous three-year-old
dangling on the arms of a
faded Diana caricature
but in one month two weeks five days
she’ll ship you off to Pennsylvania
I’ve seen the nights crossed off in her diary
(though she only reveals this
burden after I have fetched the wine)
I won’t feign my liberation
from your one-sided vendettas on Marxism
or was it Wall Street
because of this need of yours
to play devil’s advocate
your genesis into the real world
is bittersweet
tell your roommate, your
professors, that man
standing behind you in the checkout queue
of our morning car rides as you
scribble last minute philosophies
and yell at me to turn the Oldies off
recall our mother’s
tear-stained pillowcase
can you trace us from this place,
trace me?
when our time zones intervene
put on Etta James and
write me cheap postcards
on Saturday evenings
Haro Lee
Yr 12, St Cuthbert’s College
