Excerpt from the book The Mother on the Other Side of the World

Young Man Comes of Age in America

you would have thought it impossible to take a splinter
three-quarters of an inch long in the crease
of your thumb pad
and not know it
except for days afterward
there was a dull ache
in another part of his hand
and then for weeks an itch
he was afraid to look at it afraid not to
he pulled off the road
in the middle of the night
between Columbus and Cincinnati
hundreds of miles away the maps
slid from their shelf to the floor
and under the dash light he examined it
first one hand and then the other
he picked at it constantly
it began to fester
then backed off this went on and on
one day he was stacking firewood
with his father screaming
at him or vice versa
they were big holes now
in each other's gloves
or maybe they were both okay for once
when suddenly the splinter broke the surface of his skin
for the first time his fingertips felt something
to get a hold of his whole body shuddered
as he drew it out he was sobbing
his father's arms around him
maybe that once