Hypotonic Lemonade by Yan Sison

at the 2017 backyard cookout,

a background music is playing.

the Billboard Hot 100 playlist

takes me back to place of familiarity

to a family.

from the arch is yellow and red

burning and golden LEDS,

to a cacophony of laughing children

as the butts friction on the unwaxed slides in the playroom

            to the grounded arabica beans i stir

are a neglected son’s rite of rituals.

deprived from a mother’s caress

is a shoulder, tattooed a

slice of processed American cheese on the scratched silver surface.

the feast the tongue savors

is the soft serve vanilla cone

on the mouth-watering summer solstice.

pinned to the right chest side

            is a straightforward name

a forgetful mother ceases to remember

instructed to a flock of punjabis

is a functioning role

a deadbeat father fails to provide

to their unattended children

at the 2017 backyard cookout is a

a blazing griller from Facebook Marketplace.

Fumes of a charcoaled sirloin,

            flying embers

pop pop pop

melts the dehydrated contact lenses

like a burning longing for the past

a hypotonic lemonade can’t cool down

Yan Sison is a poet based on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Some of his works were published in Pearls, a creative writing anthology.