Imagine us alive—
cherished and unraped. At least once
in your life, feel our blood
a gift intact. Raven
waved hair golden eyes unafraid.
What PornHub videos
did you watch to get us
here? Which Asian woman do you
blame for your choices now?
We’ve got better things to do than fuck you.
Fuck you. Imagine that
not fucking with your ego. You
your gun and your callow
end. You and your bad day
only murder will fix. We will
live to tell the full truth:
You’re a failed grandchild.
Limp. Smaller than our sacred gold
women you’ve gunned down here
this Georgia day. No shrine could heal your hand.
You’re but a symptom.
A vile lesson we won’t
allow our states to learn. No—
imagine we call our spirits
back with fire. We offer
fresh warm soy milk and straw
berry cake. We press warm
temples to the earth. After years
lifting a rose gold sun
we drive our beloved grandmothers home.
Contributor’s Bio
Denise Hanh Huynh is a poet, educator, and researcher. Her poetry has appeared with Coffee House Press, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and Public Art Saint Paul. Currently, Denise is a PhD Candidate in Education focused on arts, culture and teaching. Her research and practice are motivated by experiences of miseducation and opportunities we lack to learn about our ancestors and ourselves. She is interested in the creative efforts we make to come home to ourselves with ancestral poetics of knowing. Find her at denisehuynh.com.
