Big Bridge #10

Export: Writing the Midwest

 

Brian Thao Worra

 

Song for a Sansei

I remember her story

Of a white life

That took some getting used to.

White family. White holidays. White food:
Codfish, cauliflower, vanilla pudding, potatoes and
Gravy, poultry, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

A life of snow in which
I, too, find the mirror of I Am

Not necessarily followed by “made of”
Perhaps simply, coincidentally, “among, with love,”
That you can’t help in a world like this

I’d meditate more on her graying words
But the jazz-soaked bartender at the edge of this dark room
Is reminding me

We only get 5 minutes each
To talk about our own yellow lifetimes.


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