Thien-bao Phi, 'You Bring out the Vietnamese in Me'

[duathir.livejournal.com]

You Bring out the Vietnamese in Me
(after Sandra Cisneros)[*]

You
bring out the Vietnamese in me

The waiting fireball.
The suntanned angel on a rice terrace.
The black haired miracle.

You
bring out the Vietnamese in me,
the salted yellow boat child and military brat on airplane in me,
the tracer-bullet eyed buddhist who gets presents on Christmas in me,

the nuoc mam, ca phe sua da, mangoes and mang cut,
mit and coconut, sugar dried strawberries in Da Lat
and sweet xa xui stains Asian/American in me,

the dry-season-heat hearted and black-eyebrow-as-floodgate
for monsoon eyes in me,

the three stripes of Song Huong blood
under yellow flag skin and Song Me Kong spine in me,

the phillips to cedar square projects to frogtown
in a powderblue used Datsun blaring Depeche Mode in me,
the aquanet mane and switchblade, razor boxcutter in left pocket
baseball bat in the backseat
gun in the glove compartment refugee in me,
You, yes you,
whiplash of black hair
and your heart a rose of flame,

( You bring out the Vietnamese in me... )

[*] “This was inspired by Sandra Cisneros’s poem, ‘You Bring out the Mexican in Me’.” – Bao Phi