Twenty One | Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm

[a poem written for my beautiful husband,
a man with a heart of gold]

In a simpler time:
I was barely a graduate,
You in a hundred dollar suit
___ from Lowe’s.

Snickers bar for lunch,
Or wet sandwiches surprise.
(Already a gourmet cook!)
Your jacket hung
___ on thin shoulders.

We had two rooms,
Two pairs of chopsticks,
A bowl of rice,
Piled on with morning glory.

Days long ago
Months so pass by
Two hearts a light
Blink, twenty one years.

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Nguyễn Thị Phương Trâm, the blogger, poet, and translator, was born in 1971 in Phu Nhuan, Saigon, Vietnam. The pharmacist currently lives and works in Western Sydney, Australia.