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POEM OF THE MONTH, July 2004 |
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Thursday, 01 July 2004 |
POEM OF THE MONTH | July 2004
 | | | | On June 19, 1982, Vincent Chin, a 27 year old Chinese American, was brutally murdered in Detroit, Michigan. It was during the decade when American car manufacturers were being challenged by Japanese car manufacturers. As a result the domestic automobile market was depressed and lay-offs and plant closings here in the US were taking place. Anti-Japanese sentiment ran amok in the U.S. and nowhere more evident than in Detroit. Anyone who looked Japanese was personally blamed and held accountable for the predicament of the U.S. car manufacturers. That night, Vincent Chin paid dearly for the anti-Japanese and anti-Asian sentiment. After the Storm Muskrats rose from the marsh
flooded from yesterday’s rain.
I stood at the kitchen window
watching them prowl in my garden,
stripe-faced demons,
tails stiff in the wind.
They’re gone this morning,
everything a mess out there,
turnips dug out and carved,
beans, peppers, broccoli flowers
maimed and scattered in dirt.
The crop of my bowels.
Each day I’d squat
with my dress pulled up
to nourish them, my knees
clicked at the joints.
I don’t say much anymore.
My voice is weak.
Years ago they killed
my son in Motor City.
Is that not enough to bear?
Why should I plant new seeds? In memoriam Vincent Chin
(1955-1982)
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