I thought I'd share a funny little poem by the vastly talented Tung-Hui Hu, with whom I was fortunate to workshop poems my senior year at the University of Michigan. I was so struck by this poem when I first read it four years ago that I taught it to my class of ninth grade students at Community High School in Ann Arbor the following semester. They loved the poem, too, the haphazard humor and how casual yet honest it felt.
From the book Mine, here is "The Wish Answered" by Tung-Hui Hu:
Several years ago I discovered7 of 30. Happy National Poetry Month!
how easily love and food are confused,
when I thought I was in love with someone
but really it was a skipped lunch,
forgive me, I was young,
passions being what they were
were somewhat equivalent, mixed-up,
the highest anything,
stars without firmament, colors huddled
in the back shelf of a dark closet.
And even when I got my wish,
her sitting in front of me,
all I could think about
was cannoli, biscotti.
How embarrassing! My stomach
growled and my heart leapt.
