Who I Met Yesterday
Ai Cheng on the subway
she asked for directions
she didn't need them
we sat together
with her son R
maybe it was ARE
she didn't spell his name
she wanted to talk to
a New Yorker
I was the candidate visitor
from Copenhagen she was
actually born in Singapore
R's Danish father
they met 12 years before
at Ankhor Wat. He
died in his sleep.
Just 40 she said.
Then she and R were in
Copenhagen on their own.
That's what she
wanted to say
to tell a stranger
before we arrived
at 42nd Street
before we
arrived at her stop.