What Her Missionary Son’s Letter Didn’t Say
Poem
This poem tied for first place in the 2021 Clinton F. Larson Poetry Contest, sponsored by BYU Studies.
Rain hangs in the air. Even my underwear feels wet.
I listen to the tapping fingertips of the bodies of bugs hitting netting at night. Gray water. Bare floors.
My companion is around.
The people are more real than anyone I’ve ever met— than you, maybe, in that long-ago world.
My companion won’t sing. This is the rainy season.