So these are just a few excerpts from Hooray for English.
Cool.
What is your name?
I pronounce myself and shed velvet syntax.
No, I meant, what do people call you?
Refugee.
How old are you?
I'm several decades old.
What is your favorite hobby?
If I stand still, I'm afraid I'll fall down.
There's nothing you love to do?
Love echoes in my throat like a morning glory.
I crush it.
What do people find most interesting about you?
They ask, where are you from?
What do you forget most about your home country?
I am a bright grammar trampled berries against the road.
Describe your family.
My mother didn't want me to marry for 10 years.
In secret, I visited my now husband in reeducation camp.
She worried he'd never be able to escape the country,
that I'd never step a foot outside of it.
The prayers before the HO program took so long.
My now husband tried to sink the ocean.
Describe your husband.
He wanted to be there when I arrived with my papers,
when he got caught again.
An animal in the tines of a fork.
I still never conceived of another border.
I still dreamed of staying.
But then what happened?
We arrived at a camp in Thailand.
I can count my siblings on two continents.
Some crossed on water.
I would do everything for love.
Was everyone watching TV when the tanks rolled in?
Yes, they were.
Was it hard to sleep?
No, it wasn't.
Were children running in the streets?
Yes, they were.
Was furniture knocked over?
No, it wasn't.
Was the phone ringing?
Yes, it was.
Were the roads jammed?
Yes, they were.
Was the family together?
No, they weren't.
Were the clothes on the line?
Yes, they were.
Present.
We go to camp at 7 o'clock.
My mother thinks I cook for the neighbor.
She walks to the gates.
You are a bad daughter.
I open my mouth.
The neighbor plants melons.
Future.
We will go to camp at 7 o'clock.
My mother will think I cook for the neighbor.
I will pack food the night before.
She will walk to the neighbor's gates and look for me.
You will be a bad daughter.
I will open my mouth and contort.
The neighbor will plant melons.
I will carry two red halves.
Past.
We went to camp at 7 o'clock.
My mother thought I cooked for the neighbor.
I handed my love food that won't spoil.
She walked to the neighbor's gates and counted the times
she did not see me.
I was the last daughter.
I opened my mouth and contorted when I saw him.
The neighbor planted melons.
I armed myself with seeds.
Describe your childhood.
Each morning, I followed the blue winged bird's flight path
between the neighbor's tree and the shine of her gate's latch.
During monsoons, the streets flooded and jeweled
cockroaches climbed our legs.
We all looked for safety outside of ourselves.
Were you close to your siblings?
The oldest already walked single file in the fields.
What was it like to arrive at camp?
Which one?
What was it like to visit your now husband?
The second time at the second camp, I went with his sisters.
We spent the day before preparing food.
My fingers hungered in knots.
And I'm going to end there from this part from this long poem.