Matt Coonan
Yellow Rice
After my aunt was fed to earth, we caravaned
back to her house for paella. Her father served it
on the patio in a large steel pot you could see
yourself in. I finished half a paper plate’s worth
& waddled into the front yard; yellow rice clung
to my tiny lapel. My uncle stood on the curb in a
larger suit jacket, staring at the white Buick his
wife would not start tomorrow. I do not like to
think about the next thing, but here. I tugged at
his cufflink & said Uncle Johnny, do you have a
pack of Pokémon cards? His cornflower eyes
drooped to mine & hung there for what felt like
a short childhood. Then he brushed rice off my
shoulder & began to check his empty pockets.
Matt Coonan is a poet, emcee and teacher from New York. He holds an MFA in creative writing and literature from Stony Brook University. He is the author of Toy Gun (Button Poetry, 2023), as well as two chapbooks. His poems have been featured on Button Poetry and published in Tinderbox Poetry Journal, The Southampton Review, and Inklette, among others.