Poetry: “Cuban-American Sonnet for My Past & Never Father” by Trinity Tibe
In this sonnet, one turn—one volta—comes in the form of an italicized word: Bloqueo. Given that Trinity Tibe’s speaker continually seeks throughout the poem to discover more insight about her father, this turn underscores the fact that he is impossible to construct, a blockade like thick coastal morning air makes him nebulous. This poem is after sonnets in Terrance Hayes’ American Sonnets for My Past and Future Assassin, from which Tibe is drawing inspiration to discuss identity and culture, with a twist: a lack of access to one parent means the child’s identity is an assemblage of vague pieces. The repetition in this sonnet leaves the reader with the feeling that, again and again, the speaker keeps putting in the effort to identify their father, futilely.
Read Tibe’s poem below.
Cuban-American Sonnet for My Past & Never Father
after Terrance Hayes
Probably you never think of me. Like I lose
the truth of a room the moment I close the door
behind me. Probably you haven’t projected the story
of a daughter onto the thick coastal air where you
probably live. Haven’t painted your version of my smile
or given me a dream. Which is to say, a girl needs no narrator.
I know three facts about you: 1. Name 2. The way you look
in the photograph 3. You leave completely, your method
thorough. Bloqueo. I tried to construct you
when I was fatherless, I tried to construct you
with what washed up on shore
but you are ever-nebulous, you are never
anything except my own effort. And probably
you aren’t worth any of this.
Trinity Tibe
Trinity Tibe (she/they) is a prizewinning poet, visual artist, and community arts organizer. She is a co-founder of Ambrosia Art Salon, an arts community in Savannah, Georgia. Their work appears in The Florida Review, Bodega, Pacifica Literary Review, Duende, and more. Trinity was a poet-in-residence at the Trélex Residency in Switzerland and the Bethany Arts Poetry Residency. She is a studio member at ARTS Southeast and has an MFA in Poetry from The New School. Her chapbook “My Blood Must Have Something to Do With Me” is forthcoming from Porkbelly Press in 2026.
