“My Childhood," "My Twilight," and "My Death" by Le Hinton

My Childhood

We lived in the house with no bathroom.

How

Mom

cooked

days.

How

Dad

worked
nights.
How
with no bathroom in the house, we lived.

---

My Twilight

We write in this house with 3 bathrooms.

Now

cancer

lives

here.

Now

words

hold

love.

Now,

with 3 bathrooms, we write in this house.

---

My Death

You will grieve in this room with 1 bathroom.

Know

that

memories

survive.

Know

that

love

remains.

Know,

with 1 bathroom, you will grieve in this room.

---

4/10/2025

Le Hinton has published seven poetry collections including Elegies for an Empire (Iris G. Press, 2023). His work has been widely published and can be found in Pleiades, The Best American Poetry 2014, The Progressive, and outside Penn Medicine Stadium in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, incorporated into Derek Parker’s sculpture Common Thread.