it's only a poem

this is a poem about social justice... in general
it's about the blood of indigenous people... from everywhere
it's about the wars that decimate innocent people... across the world
it is the ultimate poem that will make you cry and shout and laugh all at the same exact time

it is the miracle poem.
the poem that everyone will clap and remember and talk about after this open mic.
it is the poem made by paperboy cap tattooed too cool on stage for you poets
this poem will talk about rivers of blood like the ones that run in your veins
about how white walls is a reminder of white imperialism and how it's suffocating our souls

it will be about women... in general
it will be about the power of youth... from all urban cities
it will speak to the impact of words... on no one in particular
or everyone in particular!

this poem will rock the judges and make them lucky to be coming out tonight
even though their cool artsy poet friend dragged them to a small coffeehouse
packed with young suits by day and loud adjective heavy poets by night
when you really just wanted to watch that new movie with channing tadem

but no no, you are moved! channing tadem can't touch your heart like this.
this poem will circle verbs onto nouns and swirl around adjectives so we can make adverbs that will blow. your. mind.
it will reinspire you to write... a haiku
because when you got home your inspiration ran dry and you desperately tried to remember the lines of this poem so you can use it to write angry love poems or sad ones about your cat
you will spout the wonders of the word to all of your coworkers
and make all of your friends read your 5 page poem because if they really wanted to know you
they would read the writing your soul wrote
bam!
so deep, it sank past the titanic

this poem is about jeremy lin and how he will save all of asian america
it is about the shades of orange and yellow with a hint of green as the sun sets over a beautiful vast ocean
it will be letters to all the politicans... about all the injustices
it will be about facebook and how online flirting works
it is a poem about my father... your father... and your father... all of our our fathers
it will be a poem about a poem about a poem within a poem

then it will internally explode
and bring you another set of stanzas that you did not see coming
this poem will be televised on youtube
with 15 hits
and considered a success
this poem will sell chapbooks and cds and tours
it will make me famous!
if only on college campuses
it will be about what my favorite color would say it if it could talk
it would be about sacred places... in my bedroom
it's about that book, article, facebook comment, tweet that changed my life and now there's a poem about it

this poem is about everything... in general
and nothing... in particular
it will be about my contradictions and hypocrisy
and how my heart has broken into millions of pieces and shattered across the sahara
waiting to be picked up and glued back together

this poem is about you.
about me.
about us.
about poets who do make us laugh, cry, and shout at the same time.

it is about my gratitude for the poet world to exist so i can write this miracle poem.

and really, it's mostly about jeremy lin. better luck tomorrow kobe.

aloha oe

dear queen lili'ouklani,

i am sad for your departure in this world and even more distraught about the removal of your rule over your people. i know i've only learned about you and your family through museums and youtube videos but i can't shake this spur in my heart for the hawaiian people. your grace and compassion can be seen in your eyes that stare back at me from age old photos. it can be told in the steps you took at washington place and in the rooms of the iolani palace. it can be felt by your people as you sign violent declarations of your "tyranny" to avoid bloodshed. i feel it in the blood of my war refugee veins. the injustice that demands reparations. the heartbreak that can still be heard on the shores of hawai'i.

when was the first mistake made? was it when king kamehameha allowed white colonizers to be ali'i? was it when christian missionaries settled in and converted the monarchy? was it when it became legal for white foreigners to own land in hawai'i? was it when captain cook finally made it to the hawaiian islands and decreed it to be the sandwich islands?

when was that point in history you would have taken back? when was it that you could still save your peoples from american exceptionalism?

i know the forces of western imperialism was stronger than any current that hawai'i has every faced but could it be possible for these series of eight islands could rebuke the eventual reality of annexation?

i'm not so sure but i do know that every hawaiian heart still beats to the thunder of your ancestors.

i can only hope to be so loud.

with all my love and admiration,
yvonne tran