Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, REMINDER, by INDRAN AMIRTHANAYAGAM


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

REMINDER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: You come from sri lanka, / said the toy-shop keeper at patti's
Subject(s): Sri Lanka; United States - Immigration & Emigtration; Ceylon


You come from Sri Lanka,
Said the toy-shop keeper at Patti's
Settlement, I know, your skin
Tones are different from Indian,
Not brown, a kind of slate,
And you have that gentleman's gait --

When we lived in Virginia,
My son's pediatrician
Was Tamil from Sri Lanka
And finely made, his face
Has stayed imprinted
On my brain for twenty years --

Here most toys come from China,
American labor is too expensive,
But the dolls in the back,
Fashioned in Ohio, weigh as much
As real babies . . . That seahorse
Is not as heavy as the rest,

If that's what you want,
Two dollars ninety-nine
Will be enough, and that
Train for the tree, it's nothing
At all, a dime . . . Twenty years
Is a long time. Come back again.

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