Music from Childhood
by John Yau

Read the automated transcript.

You grow up hearing two languages. Neither fits your fits
Your mother informs you “moon” means “window to another world”

You begin to hear words mourn the sounds buried inside their mouths
A row of yellow windows and a painting of them

Your mother informs you “moon” means “window to another world”
You decide it is better to step back and sit in the shadows

A row of yellow windows and a painting of them
Someone said you can see a blue pagoda or a red rocket ship

You decide it is better to step back and sit in the shadows
Is it because you saw a black asteroid fly past your window

Someone said you can see a blue pagoda or a red rocket ship
I tried to follow in your footsteps, but they turned to water

Is it because I saw a black asteroid fly past my window
The air hums — a circus performer riding a bicycle towards the ceiling

I tried to follow in your footsteps, but they turned to water
The town has started sinking back into its commercial

The air hums — a circus performer riding a bicycle towards the ceiling
You grow up hearing two languages. Neither fits you fits

The town has started sinking back into its commercial
You begin to hear words mourn the sounds buried inside their mouths

"Music from Childhood" by John Yau, from BIJOUX IN THE DARK by John Yau, copyright © 2018 Letter Machine Editions. Used by permission of the poet.