Dear Adoption, Think of Me

Think of me truly if I mattered at all
And think of the things you changed and did,
For I knew you as few ever could or saw,
And you held my soul, tiny and naked with nothing hid.

You forced my laugh to cover my too often tears,
And held my bleeding wounded heart too closely tight.
Oh I was young and you were fuel for my blooded fears
And my youth was bittersweet in your fest’ring bite.

Think of me kindly if you remember still
My yearning for my mother’s tender touch.
For I was hers once with all my will
And her love was immortal in my innocent clutch.

Once I saw forever in her warmth and hold
And dreamed my childhood dreams, not knowing I.
Oh time was lean, but still good when you’re never old
And make believe felt real ‘til you came cutting by.

Think of me deeply if your memory does and can
And know that every clocking tick I think of you,
For you changed my day and killed the boy to make the man
And my lonely heart wept in a world that felt untrue.

You tore away my mother’s voice that rarely sang,
Her love and song were spent in desperation’s ugly pull;
You brought the pain of loss, the serpent’s razor fang
And a life relinquished with its world dead and null.

Yes, think of me fondly if I mattered at all.
Don’t see me alone and small and blank with pain,
For once I knew my mother’s love before you came to call.
And despite your night – in dreams – I live her love again.

Joel L.A. Peterson is a mixed-race Korean adoptee, born to a Korean prostitute and an unknown American GI. Until adopted, he lived with his birth mother in circumstances which at times left him and his mother homeless and sleeping and begging on the streets. Peterson was placed for international adoption and adopted at age seven by a Swedish American family in rural Minnesota who had four biological children, a son and three daughters.

Peterson is a national award-winning author of the Amazon Best Selling novel, Dreams of My Mothers, his first book.  Writing has not been Peterson’s primary profession. His past professional experiences include — former U.S. Navy officer, senior executive with global Fortune 100 corporations, and an insider in the world of global finance and mergers and acquisitions.

Currently, Peterson is CEO of Education Support Services, LLC, a national provider of comprehensive education support services offered as an employee benefit. Concurrently, he is the managing partner and CEO of Pintoresco Advisors, LLC, an international business consulting firm.

Peterson is a PhD pre-doc (Education Policy Assessment) at Claremont Graduate University, and earned his MBA from Virginia Tech and his BA from the University of Virginia.

He lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife, Darleen.  

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