Geramee Hensley is a writer from Ohio. Currently pursuing an MFA at the University of Arizona, they live in the desert. They edit poetry for Sonora Review and Tinderbox Poetry Journal. Their work has been featured in Button Poetry, Lantern Review, Indiana Review, Hobart, The Recluse, and elsewhere. You can find them at geramee.com.

Artist Statement: I played piano for several years and have now stopped playing for far longer. I’ve been around Tagalog my whole life. When I first started to reteach myself piano and learn how to speak Tagalog, I wrote this poem. My mouth has difficulty making sounds I listened to since I was a child. My fingers stumble around jazz numbers they used to dance out. This period of my life also coincided with a serious confrontation with death and loss. Learning these things became a practice of care to my own personal relationship with family history, a star seated in an extending constellation of cultural history.

How will I carry this history across the distance of the loss I feel? Do I feel connected to it? Yes.