The Invasion

They’re coming! They’re coming!

In the faint night air

Their feet rustle.

Hurry let’s hide daddy!

Rustles amplified

Into rolling thunders of stampede.

We need to get out of here!

Clouds of fog puffed into the air

Like a train traveling through the cold.

They’re going get us!

Erie shouts of desperation

Of ghost heard in the distance

Oh no!

Stood there, faces of stone

No mercy,

Inhuman

Daddy!

 

Where is our Homeland?

They say our people is always seeking our homeland

Migrating and searching

For decades,

To centuries,

To millennium,

Even until the present

The search continues…

South to southeast..

West…….

North to far Far East

Across mountains….

Jungles……..plains…

……..deserts

Still remain

Searching…

Europe to China

America to Americas

Walking…walking

Still….

………….searching

Alien

January 1987,

Stepped into a world that is very different

Lights at night, cars, and skyscrapers

Scare of giants, they try to eat you

In the eyes of an immigrant

Everything is unclear

Only belief…

Is from the rumors we hear

A sense of fear shakes even the bold

Scary tales of America were once told

Standing outside the airplane

Now faced with

Many faces

All staring…

Looking….

Sky eyes

Snow skin

                        Shadow people

Burnt hair

                        Pierced

            Fierce

All unique and different

Friends or foes?

We don’t know……

Two Worlds

They are too old, they don’t get you

We read alphabets, they read scriptures

They practice oral tradition

While ours are written

Tales they told

For us to listen

Contradicting,

What they taught us in school

Which is true?

So confusing……

Spirits they use as guides

Science we use in our everyday lives

To survive…..

They are self-sufficient

We reliant

In compliance with the modern economy

They, still in a primitive society

Two worlds collide

See eye to eye

Only one thing in common….

Both Iu-Mienh inside.  

Angelic Presence

How can one be so fine

Take a look at her,

Stops time

Breathless

Capturing the her glow

Epitome of perfection from head to toe

Pause

Wait a minute

Gasp

Breathe

Smell of the breeze

Her sweet scent

Enters you soul

Moving every vein

Touching you, leaving you numb

Dumbfounded

Eyes scan across

Capturing her eyes

Leaving you

Frozen        Frozen

In time

The Love Test

Some people get crazy off of love

Can’t get enough, always chasing scrubs

Some people never see, how crude love can be

Caught up in the situation, but never breaking free

Crazy sometimes how we find ourselves intertwine

With thorns that prick, can’t seem to press rewind

Enter naïve, paying with exploitation

Letting your emotion take control and calling it devotion

No thoughts required, hop into it, held on thin wire

At first passionate like fire, later starts to expire

No matter how diligent

Always result in the same consequence

Living life in regrets

Fell apart........

Before you start loving someone put them through a test

Differences

I say one thing but you think it means another
When I speak clearly you hear me stutter
Misinterpret my intentions
Unsure of my motives so you had to question
Thought we shared the same goals
But I guess it's different
What is necessary you see irrelevant
We from the same origins but with different points of views
How can one generation separate us two
Miscommunication exist obviously
We from poverty but you look down on me
Guess it's time we combine our divergence
It urgent that we turn this
Around a come together as ONE

Non-Profit

What is the meaning of non-profit?

Raising money so you can spend it on shit?

Or helping the unfortunate?

Either way issues arise

The green-eyed leads to people’s demise

Corruption in the organization

Leads to incompatible collaborations

Let it be, it sparks controversy

Who gets what? That’s unfair!

Who cares!

It’s for a better cause

Just pause...take a look at the situation

Whatever we are facing

As long as others are benefiting

But what do we get in return?

It’s not about materials

It all intangibles

Lots of respect

Better yet get accredited 

   

Religion and Culture

Humans are insecure beings

They only survive through religious means

Through the practice of supernatural worships

Can they find inner security

Feeling uneasy, being religion-free

Even atheist needs some sort of belief

Religion provides people relief

Something they can turn to when no one is around

When life takes a toll, religion is found

But does anyone care about culture?

When it falters, it falls

Without preservation from us, that will be all

Subordinate cultures diminished to being obsolete

We are finished if we don’t speak

About our culture to the young

Brand the language to their tongues

Make them understand the importance of where we are from

Despite the religion that we practice

WE share the same culture so go and pass it

  

Re-Definition

We were brought to the world with innocence and grace
Socialize by the norms that will make our fathers lose their faces
Molded into a modern culture that is artificial
Relying on science, no fundamentals
Losing our ancient traditions we practice so often
Forgot them and went on to being atheist or Christians
Confused of our past identity
Forming new ones out of standardized society
Americanization of our new generations?
Young ones losing all traces of their origins
Assimilated just to fit
Ashamed of what really is
This culture is dying with age
Can you find yourself?
Define a new page

Grandma

Grandma's deaf, she cannot hear
She's cannot hear the whispers in her ears
The language we exchange amongst our kind
Was unaccustomed during her time
No matter how loud we speak
Our tones keep getting weak
The movements our mouths are all she sees
Understanding only our actions
And capturing a few murmurs
Result in unsatisfaction
Disappointed and annoyed by our short temper
She faces toward the fence
In hopes that we can break down our ignorance

Harsh Reality

Funny how we compete with each other
From the same background
But not wanting the help one another
Gossip folks, spreading rumors
Amazing how our words can spread like cancerous tumors
One person exalted
Either will spark jealousy in others
Or make others feel smaller than a grain of salt
What happen to the pride and respect?
Young ones don't have pride for our culture
Even grown folks don't respect our elders
Live their lives in regrets
And yet, feeling themselves as burdens
Infidelity exist more now with women
Dysfunctional families, depressing tragedies
This is what I see in our harsh realities

Scriptures of Love

Girl, I love you
But I can't get with you
Why?
Because our destiny is already written in ancient Chinese scriptures
Wall full of your pictures
Expresses my emotion
Just want to hug you and stay in this moment
But the book says were not compatible
Your grasp, I cannot hold
Our lifetime story foretold
Characters tell of a prophecy
That you weren't meant for me
To coincide
Will be our demise
What a fallacy
Kind of ridiculous
That were place in this predicament
How our culture abide superstition
To make our decisions
Of our soul mates
To predict how we relate
Kind of sad but that's our reality
If we are really meant to be then we shall be

Insane

Gibberish, nonsense
My mind is Cuckoo
Insane, derange
Homicidal sometimes
Cannot maintain
In a paranoid state
Full of hate
Enraged
These thoughts don’t seem to fade
They keep coming
Mind keeps running
Can’t go away,
GO AWAY!!
Abusive, intrusive
Taking over
Lucky I’m sober
Getting older
But  still disturbed
Absurd
These words
Voices in my mind
Can't find
The reason

What is Mien?

Who am I?
Am I American, Mienh?
No clear definition
Just a vague word that no one's understanding
Wherever I go, they ask
What country are you come from?
Never heard of that...
I must be dumb...
Is that like Chinese?
Vietnamese?
Oh, you don't have a country?
Must be sad then.
Just some people in the mountains?
I respond..
Oh.....
I don't know
Yea...
Uh huh
Got no time for explanation
Why don't you just grab some books
And do some research

My People

You can call us the "the minorest of minorities"
Invisible, never known, the last of priorities
Nomads, traveling on foot to distant lands
Derogatorily put, call us barbarians
In the mountains of Thailand and Laos we reside in
But that doesn't necessarily mean its our homeland
See we take refuge in many different countires
Never becoming true citizen, remain outcast of society
Living collectively at first, later on start to disperse
Seems like a curse for our people to live on this earth
Sometimes it's hard for us to fit in
Should we assimilate or keep our tradition
Our children, how should we raise them?
Issues of generation gaps and cultural clashes
A community divided will soon collapse
Some of us sit back hesitate to react
Others aware of this fact
A genocide of our kind, we being responsible?
Soon we'll be gone but who's to know?
We came silently and will be gone silently
Can this be our fate, the final chapter of our destiny?