A love song from the Korean adoptee diaspora

Every now and again we stumble across something -- a song, poetry, a moment in time -- that cracks our hearts open and we are born anew. We see life in a new way. An indelible mark is made upon our souls and we are forever changed.

As an adoptive parent, those moments happen with some regularity when I listen to the voices of adult adoptees.

People outside of the adoption triad often see our families as happy solutions for everyone involved. But the truth of our lives is a complex stew of love and loss, joy and sorrow, and longing.

Blood of my blood.

Not.

Yet...

The nuances of loss are immeasurable even as we love each other, claim family together. Or seek to fill the empty spaces, the unknown places that complete our lives.

So tonight, this amazing poem passed through the window of the internet and entered my heart directly. From a woman I don't know. A Korean adoptee -- ibyang 입양아 -- a mother in Alaska from the diaspora. She offers us a poem about a love that embraces all of who she is, the complexity of a world created in pieces and of missing parts, now made whole:

You Bring out the Korean Adoptee in Me
by Christie Namee Erickson

You bring out the Korean Adoptee in me.
The snowdrift eyelids.
The unripe peach arms.
The knee jerk kisses I take and save for rainy days.
You know.

You bring out the red button heart in me.
The flashcard Korean nouns in me.
The message in a bottle but the bottle broke.
The fancy chopsticks.

The five year old Asian bob with perfect curled bangs in me.
All of my pink dresses, every laced hem, every inch of frill
every warm white tight in me. You bring out
the tacky bling
in my iris.

You bring out the frozen stir fry vegetables and soy sauce in me.
The four inch, no,
two inch heels so I still look good and you still look tall in me.
The fourth Killian and sloppy secrets in me.
The Dance Dance Revolution in me....

Do not bypass the opportunity to click and read the whole poem. Spent some time on her site, TSUNAMEE, and read more poems. Drink in her truth.

But don't stop there. Click again. Go to Thursdays, An Ibyang Intercontinental Poem-A-Week Project and read, listen, open your heart, and learn.