Child of 10%

Born in 65
Child of ten percent
First orgasm in 75
Child of ten percent
Tiny hands discovered un-chartered territory
Child of ten percent
Grew up in suburbia of industrial country
Where dog-eater and Vietnam-Mit (*) were daily name'sake
Parental dictation
"Integrate
Work hard
Marry, son"
Child of ten percent
One afternoon in 81
Romantic ideals crashed on wet pissy floor of tea room near train station
Where men of many colors waited, licking their lips
Mothers always knew, understood
Tenderly joking
"Should have killed at birth"
Father, simple
Man of action and not of words
"Get out"
Child of ten percent
Among his quiet, unspoken kind
Child of ten percent
Learned to cook, to clean, to fix-up things
And at nite, he even rocked himself to sleep
Whispering self-ownership
           self-reliance
           self-pride
Until 12th April of 93
Child of ten percent
Was told on Eyewitness News
Of his one percent
Out of windows he climbed
Child of ten percent
Screaming head down

YOU CAN NOT DENY MINE
    LOVE
         RESPECT
                 EXISTENCE

Child of ten percent
No longer
Man of millions

1. Jack fruit, a tropical fruit with a yellow meat.
   
2. Term refers to Vietnamese immigrants living in France/ short for Annamite, pronounced [] used by French colonialists during their conquest of then Viet Nam.

   Doi Dien #1 (Spring 1993), pp. 54-55.