Summary

“Immigrant Haibun” is told in fragments of prose, and one final haiku. It describes a woman leaving behind a war torn city with her husband. The two cross the sea together for months, and they decide that if they finish their voyage they will name their son after the sea. They see the horizon, and suddenly their boat is a ship in a bottle. The last fragment of the poem is a direct address from the mother to her child, and she says that everyone can forget her and her husband’s story, as long as their son remembers.

“Always & Forever” begins with the speaker receiving a gift from his father. His father tells him to open the gift when he needs him most. Years later, when his father appears to be gone, the speaker takes the box out and opens it to...