American Born Chinese in 2023
People who came to this land
looking for a chance at something,
seeking freedom, finding hate.
Everything inside screams
for a second life, asking
if we were made for more.
Hostility surrounds, closing in
like the sound of gunfire
at dance halls, spas, and laundromats.
Tweets like hungry bullets
rip open new wounds
across the streets of cyberspace.
No longer a white world, but
Our blood still runs blue
in veins and red on the sidewalks.
Blood and ashes cry out.
Scarlet stains our story,
making our dreams foreign.
Peace, Justice, Equality
lose their voices in the night,
silenced by the system.
Red and yellow, black, and white.
Things can only be made right.
When we rise up, stand firm, and fight.
Lost in the Current
I am the lonely freshman
Forgotten in the midst of
Tireless ocean.
Adrift amongst the
Foreign waters
Of life.
A fish who blends into,
But also stands out
In the school.
A fish who swims in the seaweed,
When the rest of the fish
Play in the coral.
A fish who is
A minnow, a morsel,
For the sharks.
Left like a jellyfish,
Drifting aimlessly.
Lost in the current.
Submission to Flame #2
It’s a hard living.
Living lower than human.
Begging for mercy
in streets covered with death.
Sick of the sickness.
Ill from the misery.
Exhausted being the vagabond.
Diseased with melancholy.
The oak stands tall.
I am an ant.
My torso is thinner
than its limbs.
Gathering myself
To the point of letting go.
Whispers of death
haunt my lips.
My knees give out
At the feet of the oak.
The spark ignites
and my spark goes out.
The tree cackles.
Crackles with flame.
Goes up in an inferno
of silent submission.
Don't even feel the
fire licking my back.
The hiss of the blaze
is the last to go.
Submission to Flame
It's a hard living.
Living lower than human.
Begging for mercy
in streets covered with death.
Sick of the sickness.
Ill from the misery.
Exhausted being the vagabond.
Diseased with melancholy.
The oak stands tall.
I am an ant.
My torso is thinner
than its limbs.
Gathering myself
To the point of letting go.
Whispers of death
haunt my lips.
My knees give out
At the feet of the oak.
The spark ignites
and my spark goes out.
The tree cackles.
Crackles with flame.
Goes up in an inferno
of silent submission.
Done with this world.
Thinking of futures to come.
Longing for departure
to my final home.
Mixed Up
Once upon a time,
Gretel pushed the witch into the oven.
So Jack climbed the beanstalk.
The princess let the prince into her tower by letting down her long hair.
And the frog kissed the princess.
Snow White entered the tiny little cottage and fell fast asleep.
And Aladdin rubbed the lamp.
Goldilocks ate some of the porridge, but it was too hot.
The Wolf blew the stick house down.
But he got hungry from all that blowing,
so he ate up poor Little Red Riding Hood.
Cinderella tried on the golden slipper...
Now we're all a little mixed up!
;)
Today is the Present
Breathe.
That’s good.
You can breathe.
Say something.
That’s good.
Your mouth works.
What’s 2+2?
That’s good.
You have a brain.
All of these gifts,
all around us.
Yet we don’t notice them.
Let me tell you something.
You have received more than a thousand gifts.
Maybe even more than ten thousand gifts.
Each day is a gift.
Each breath you take,
could be taken away.
Each day is special.
How will you receive it?
Will you live it?
Every person in your life,
the people you love.
They are gifts.
Be thankful for all the gifts that you get,
because one day,
you’re gonna wish you had received each and everyone.
Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
But today is a gift.
That is why they call it Present.