Fakers

 

 

I woke when the car stopped, but

faked sleep

 

so my father

would carry me into the house.

 

“He’s faking,” my big sister, having to walk

because no faker herself, crankily complained.

 

But my father, not listening,

carried me in anyway,

 

faking he didn’t know I was faking

because he liked to carry his boy.

 

We two fakers,

hugging each other for real.

 

 

 

A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, Mark Belair is a drummer who has recorded with jazz greats Bill Evans and Joe Lovano. He has also performed as a percussionist with the New York Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. His show credits include the original Off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors and the Broadway production of Les Misérables. His essay about his family’s experience during the week of 9/11 appeared in The Guardian (London). He received a Writers’ Guild of America Foundation Fellowship Award, and was an American Film Institute Directing Intern to John Huston during the production of the film Prizzi’s Honor.