Dear Khun Yai

“Chamomile Sunday” by Xenia Smith

please forgive me
for not asking
if you are well
and if you are happy
and if you are blessed
being in heaven
because my mother
tongue is lost
though more than likely
she is just out
of practice
out of shape
and unable to grasp
and to hold on
to what she used
to remember long ago
but instead I want
to ask if it is true
what people say
about love
that it is the language
that transcends all others
and dear Khun Yai
if that is so
I want to say
how much I miss
being with you
savoring dish after dish
of your slice-of-life stories
and being tickled funny
by your playful tutting
while we hold hands
like I am ten
and you have just returned
home from a long trip

About the Author

Tanya Thamkruphat is a Thai-Vietnamese American poet and essayist. She’s the author of the poetry chapbooks, Em(body)ment of Wonder (Raine Publishing, 2021) and It Wasn’t a Dream (Fahmidan Publishing & Co., 2022). Her writing appears in The Orange County Register, Button Poetry, Honey Literary, San Diego Poetry Annual 2022-2023 , Rio Grande Review, and elsewhere.

About the artist

Xenia Smith is an artist working and living in the Coachella Valley. Born and raised just outside of San Francisco she made her way to Santa Cruz where she studied Linguistics; she found her way to the desert with her partner and Lucy the cat. She is a screen printer by trade, as well as a painter and film photographer. Her work is inspired by travel, nature and plant life, dream diaries & fond memories.