sticky rice
soak for as many hours as your god
has given your memory that day
place the steamer basket atop the pot
wet the towel, arrange it like a blanket
in a bassinet or casket, whatever
you are most familiar with recently
drain the water, saving if needed
pour the rice, arrange into a paddy field
with room for heat to hurry through
wait for opacity to give stubborn way
to a pearled, vulnerable translucence
after Costco, my father slices the bag
like putting a fish out of its misery
I help him lift into the five gallon
bucket we listen in silence to the rain.
Poems in Passage
Thank you to our valued partners
TTC • Aga Khan Museum • Pattison
Design and layout by Marissa Korda and Marta Ryczko
Picture of the Sticky Rice poem take on the Toronto subway in March, 2025.
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