My son gave me a book
of koans,
as if parenting a son isn’t
confusing enough,
as if navigating boys to men
is nothing.
He is messing with my mind,
my son.
Why? Chores? Curfew? Years of no
child support?
Still, I was raised to be
polite, so
when he gave me the book
of koans
I thanked him. He replied by
saying nothing.
James King’s poetry has appeared in The Dillydoun Review, The Thieving Magpie, OpenDoor Poetry Magazine, Oddville Press, Big City Lit, The Dead Mule School of Southern Literature, Crowstep Poetry Journal, BarBar Magazine, The Lake Poetry Journal, Journal of Expressive Writing, Months to Years, The Ekphrastic Review, and Dipity Literary Review. He is the author of the award-winning novel Bill Warrington’s Last Chance and Extenuating Circumstances (forthcoming). A graduate of the University of Notre Dame with an MA in Writing from Manhattanville University, he lives in Wilton, Connecticut.