Tamileelam And Vavuniya 4.15.2009 Poem by Margaret Alice

Came to work with pizza-induced muscle
spasm, made it through the day until lunch
at twelve, now the neck is growing worse -
driving mom’s taxi today, must pick up kids
from school

I have such nice terms with which to play,
the bank of Tamileelam and Vavuniya, Sri
Lanka; the language itself is a joyous illus-
tration; got the ‘World’s Best Fairy Tales
Volume 2’ from the library

Enjoy the pictures I stared at in primary school,
especially ‘Snegourka, the Snow Maiden’ and
‘East of the Sun and West of the Moon’ –
the stories are ‘smaller’ than I remember
them because

I had embroidered them so much in my head,
assigning more meaning to them than they
really contain, but they form the backbone
and frame of my dreams, I cannot
let them go…