From the Market

The woman carries the cantaloupe in her palm,
Protruding like a proud pregnancy.
Her fingers turn up, become a bowl;
Each foot dances to ripeness.

Was the cantaloupe singing
As she made her way to home and mate?
Would she dare to eat
The golden flesh when she woke
With cravings in the night?

[Poem by Virginia McKinnon Mann. Dated "July, August, September 1997". Photo by Kabsik Park.]

Children

Sonya

Sonya walks
Like the bamboo leaf
Holding the water droplet
Until it falls.

Sonya walks
With dancing hands,
Planting each foot
Towards those she loves.

Kevin

Today a tiny seed
Floated on my breath,
Moving as Kevin moved,
Our second son,
Who saw the world
So small and cried,
"A beauty, a beauty!"

[Two poems by Virginia McKinnon Mann, printed on the same page. August, 1995.]