I’ll see you at home
Wait
Let’s ride together
You go too slow
I don’t, though.
I think to myself
He responds
Your bike is way faster than mine, but I still drive faster than you do.
I mean
You need to drive carefully, you know that, right?
He shrugs it off. A teenage moment, where I’m not convinced he’s heard me
But here he is, before my eyes, growing forward
slowly but surely
away,
as it should be.
He likes his space
yet dances with me
coming into my orbit when I don’t expect it,
drawing away when I do.
Slowly but surely
coming into his own.
I’m not always steady of hand on the motorbike, especially on a cold day.
We weave through traffic together.
I follow, he waits. I slide past,
he sneaks up.
Our traffic dance matches the flow of these Hanoi streets. He shoots a gap here and there
I follow when I can.
We go slow.
There’s no rush right now. And his slower pace seems to say
I’m here, Papa
Even when he sneaks ahead
He never gets so far that he’s out of sight
I’m here, Papa
Catch me
It’s the first thing he ever said to me
I am back in a small, warmly-lit, cozy birthing room on Capitol Hill
his Mama performing otherworldly acts
And
his very first move outside of the womb
is to be caught.
Catch me
He says
The first thing he says to me
And the first thing he does
Catch me, papa
And I do
Into these simple
Outstretched
Steady
arms
He arrives.
All slimy jumble
Penis, poop, and all.
And I can say, without doubt, that it is the
greatest
moment
of my life.
The abrupt curve is punctuated by an impatient taxi driver’s staccato beep
And I am back here, in this moment
His hairy, grown man-calves and intermittently functional signal lights slip on ahead
Catch me
Papa
And in this moment
After all this time
We are both more confident than ever
That I will.
Get Up Eight 
What a beautiful piece of writing! The white on black contrast really worked as I kept reading and reading to come to the end and truly understand Caught. Favorite lines are “He shrugs it off. A teenage moment…” and “penis, poop, and all”.
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This is such a special slice. You took us on your “traffic dance'”, into that birthing room and back again. Whilst reading dancing in and out of time lines, it also shared the trust between the two of you. You trusting him and he trusting you , “Catch me Papa.” The ending shows so much love and ‘dependence and release’ all dancing away in a very deep way.
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I love what the above commenters said. I also love your writing style, where you tell a story fairly directly but in such a way to make us see the profundity in small moments. I love how your mind wanders back to that birthing room and back again to follow the hairy calves of your boy.
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This post. It’s beautiful. The way you use your trip in and around traffic as a metaphor for a kid growing older. It captures all the beauty and complexity and frustration and love in such a heartfelt way.
Thank you for this.
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The heart of this slice pulses so strongly with that repeated “Catch me Papa.” You’ve written this so skillfully, moving us back and forth effortlessly in time and place and through traffic. Beautiful!
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Beautifully crafted to capture timeless connections and emotions. The repetition “catch me papa” in different settings (birthing room to traffic dance) makes this a memorable slice.
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Catch Me Papa - so perfect for this piece and for this time of life as our children shoot ahead! Thanks for sharing this lovely writing!
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Oh, how beautiful. I love the multiple meanings of “catch me”, and the ways in which you do. I love the entire poem. One section that particularly caught me was this: “But here he is, before my eyes, growing forward/slowly but surely/away,/as it should be./He likes his space/yet dances with me/coming into my orbit when I don’t expect it,/drawing away when I do.” –This seems like the perfect illustration of parenting a teenager.
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