Day 4, Poet 4: Tyler Tsay

Substitutes For "Before My Father Was Diagnosed With Cancer"

*

they pushed a man 
into me 
when all 
i wanted 
was the sun
to rise

*

son, son,
let us 
build castles
& be castles
together-- 
i sit atop your shoulders
& stay there.

*

i do not
want children,
anyone that loves 
so unknowingly

*

they took the tumor 
that was 
your name 
& gave back 
to you 
so much less 
than you 
were owed

*

my father
a rageful wind

*

nowadays
pauses over
the phone remind
me i am losing you
from three
thousand miles away

*

by violence
come violence
by violence 
a son

*

son, son,
forgive
go on
show god
the good
in you still--
so i rebuild
& rebuild
what will 
never
stay mine

*

bad things
don't care
bad things
break the rules
dad
break the rules
& live

*

the birds sing
& in it,
your glorious laugh
your soft hands


Previously published in DIAGRAM.


Tyler Tsay is a student at Williams College and the Program Director of The Speakeasy Project (thespeakeasyproject.net). His work, both past and upcoming, has been or will be published in The Offing, The Margins: AAWW, BOAAT, Vinyl Poetry, DIAGRAM, Boxcar Poetry and others. He is the recipient of the Bullock Poetry Prize, awarded by the Academy of American Poets and judged by Camille Rankine, and the former Editor in Chief of The Blueshift Journal (theblueshiftjournal.com). When not doodling, collecting quills, or composing cello pieces, he loves a good view, though having an atrocious fear of heights. And yes, fezzes are definitely cool.