So on my mantle is Picasso's Guernica
1937
And a photo, black and white,
Of me as a child in Taiwan
Near a pachinko machine
I am sitting in front of it
A little Taiwanese girl
Is standing next to it
We are 2 or 3 years old.

I also have my teaching diploma
From George Mason
Plus a small green figure
Of the Madonna and Child
Which my mother gave me
When she noticed me not going
To Mass much anymore
Before she died.

Mary has Asian eyes.

Picasso was asked
By a German military officer
Did you do this?

His reply: No, you did.

1937.