Sonnet for Two Birthdays

This is the year our mother goes in for test after test,
the year the doctors come out to say her heartbeat is irregular,
but not why or what we can do, the year my brother turns
fifteen & spends most of his time, like the year
 
before, shooting enemy soldiers & gang leaders
from the couch, the year our mother again asks for nothing,
for us just to be good, the year my brother demands, over
& over the cold October week of our mother's birthday,
 
to be driven to the bookstore. This is the year my brother
gives our mom a book, a book full of charts & diagrams, exercise
& diet instructions, an impossibly bright red heart on the cover––
a book he tells her to open, now, to read. This is the year his voice
 
changes, telling her to start her homework, promising her
he'll check back later, make sure she's good, better.



A Kundiman Fellow, Chen Chen's work appears or is forthcoming in Poetry, DIAGRAM, Narrative, [PANK], Best American Poetry 2015, among other places. He is currently finishing an MFA at Syracuse University, where he is a University Fellow and a Poetry Editor of Salt Hill. Visit him at chenchenwrites.com