Dear Literary Masterpiece,

Sorry I missed yesterday’s meeting.

I was busy being unproductive

by building a car carrier for my son

out of LEGO blocks. A car carrier

is a truck that transports cars

via an open or a closed trailer

with built-in ramps for loading and off-loading.

My son likes to do just that—load and unload

the differently colored cars—and take it all

for a spin around the neighborhood blocks.

It’s so easy to not write one thing down

even when I am at home by myself

enjoying some peace and quiet, let alone

when my three kiddos let loose in the house.

Here’s what I have so far: there’s jumping on the couch

and running around the house and asking

for snacks because who’s hungry already

and then my youngest’s suddenly thirsty

or needs to go pee after holding it

in for so long and wants me to be with him

because there are hair-raising thoughts lurking

in the hallway, especially when the lights

are turned off. So I flip the switch on

and my child’s face gets bigger and brighter

because we build a LEGO cityscape to go

with the traffic jams and flat tires and crashes

that make for a good day of creation and play.

by An Xu 4-3-20