White Castle


White Castle

I was a White Castle kid
Sunnyside, Queens, New York
44th street and Queens Boulevard.
Everything was on the boulevard.
Best pizza in the world, that Queens pizza
Down a few blocks from White Castle.

The last lunch my mother and I ever had out
Was at that Sunnyside White Castle
Spring 2016.  We walked up 44thst to Queens Boulevard
With her aid Najeeba.  Mom had a fish sandwich and ate well.
I ate my yogurt that I bought from home. 

It was a gloriously sunny day and we sat outside
on the benches afterwards
Talked about Melanie and the weather.

Haven’t been back to Sunnyside since then, I realize.
Had been there too long – all the decades of my life
Born in that same house, the decrepit house
Visiting the decrepit house every few weekends all those times
That house my sister and her family still live in.

I have said good bye to Sunnyside as Sandra Cisneros said
To Mango Street
Acknowledging as she did, that it is still in me.
That a part of me is Sunnnyside
But still I say
Good bye, good bye.

My own kids live far from 44th Street
No White Castle for them.

Comments

  1. This is beautiful. I love so much about it. The repetition and extinction of White Castle from your life especially, I think. From the pizza that was down to the street to the yogurt you brought from home to the experience of your own children. Beauty in its grief and gratitude.

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  2. Such a beautiful tribute. I love House on Mango Street- good way to weave it in.
    I've never been to White Castle. I don't think it's a southern thing.

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  3. Heidi, this poem is exquisite. There is so much underneath the words. I love your first line and then the distancing of the kid you were with the lives of your girls and how they turned out. (You are ROCKING this Slice of Life thing! )

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