Monsoon
People who live in regions
of monsoons know that everything
you build is transitory
Palm and bamboo huts on stilts
could be washed away
and broken by a wave
So they build knowing
how many times they must rebuild
*
Ace of Spades
Việt Nam War
There were 1,000 Ace of Spades cards pulled from the production line
by the U.S. card company and shipped overseas at no cost for American soldiers to use.
Decks of pure 52 Ace of Spades cards were produced. A Death Deck.
Mothers sent them to their sons.
An Ace of Spades card was left on the forehead of a Vietnamese person killed.
U.S. military tactic to instill fear in the people fighting to defend their homeland.
It is time to show our hands.
*
The Two-Headed Fish
that the poor Vietnamese family
eats or they will starve,
haunts me.
It floats in the air
like some kind of monster
in the night while I sleep.
Decades after the war,
Agent Orange
is still transforming
the genetics of the fish
in our rivers.
*
cuống rốn
umbilical cord
my mother says
that my umbilical cord
was given to the land
buried in Việt Nam
part of me a part of the earth
there forever
***
