About the Column:

Poems of Our Climate is a weekly poetry column run by Sofia Baluyut ’23. The column was founded by Oliver Egger ’23 as a part of the literary magazine group Route 9.  Submit and read past issues of The Lavender at Route9.org. If you are interested in having your poem featured in this column, Poems of Our Climate, please email your work directly to sbaluyut@wesleyan.edu.

thank you, in other words

By Edmund Josef Jurado ’24

 

and it’s still

my favorite story 

to tell about 

you                         the apartment still

                                had a smell to it

                                as places do 

                                when they are

                                not home

                                yet—

but not like

how your shirts

always smelled

when we hugged

at the airport, 

no, that 

was home

come home 

to us—                   one night

                               you made dinner

                               from what we had

                               (a head of garlic,

                               an onion,

                               a stalk of celery,

                               carrots and potatoes,

                               tomato paste)

from what we had 

you made

everything 

we needed 

then                       for weeks 

                               turned years

                               we asked you

                               to make it 

                               again

but it was 

different 

each time

and 

each time

it was still

what we needed

                               from what we had

                               you made 

                               laughter

                               at the dining table

                               warmth in

                               the blanket 

                               we shared

                               a birthday cake

                               only blown

                               two hours 

                               after midnight

you made 

us pull 

our clothes from

a hot heap

on the center

of the bed 

every sunday       you made 

                               us rush to

                               the window 

                               every night

                               we heard you

                               pull into the lot

 

and it’s still 

my favorite story

to tell about 

you:                       the story of how

                               you made

                               from what we had 

                               a home

 

and i can’t say

we learned

to be 

so happy 

with so little         because 

                               then

                               we had

                               so much

 

About the Poet: Edmund Josef Jurado, better known as Mojo to those close to him, is a Filipino immigrant who has made home in the Bronx, N.Y. He is Jojo and Josef’s son, Bubbi and Yanna’s brother. He will become possibly the only former-aspiring-immigration-lawyer-turned-dietician with degrees in American Studies and African American Studies.