In a parallel sliver of the multiverse,
infantryman Tim O' Brien
steps on a landmine near the hamlet
of My Lai in Son Tinh District,
South Vietnam and Boom!
A Great American Writer
never makes the list.

Summer is running away again.

I hurry. Straddle. Search.
for answers to fill the questions
that will come.

Cry: I'm from the jungle.

And they leave me alone.
In my palms, their crackling
****** lights  
the way while I,
child of democracy and tears

Say: I want to love, not fear
muffled beneath their brazen crackle.

I
a stubborn memory, barking up
in a ****** language, rustling
the quiet night
with my foul tongue and
***** eyes:

tinh yeu khong so hai.

Like a twittering bird -
good for no one's sake,
existing for mercy.

I cut my tongue.

translate: love,
not fear.