What Fruits Do Your Family Bear?

from a working poetry collection titled ‘My Family’

From my camera: Freshly picked fruit from the Washington D.C. Farmer’s Market

My Family’s Fruit Tree looks something like this. 

One mango. 

Two oranges.

A branch heavy with guava, lychee, starfruit, longan. 

Fruits that I may only touch if I accept an unspoken contract. 

It’s written in the flesh and pith, 

of the fruits I now carry.

No matter the dimension –

the inescapable guilt that whispers

“Just one fruit for your time”

“An hour,”

“A day,”

“A lifetime,”

Of filial piety.

Just one fruit.