Late morning mother made me hold the rooster’s legs as she hunched over holding the wings a horizontal slash across the neck The blood poured into a round ceramic bowl muscles twitched in death my hands struggle for life It was a necessity for the ceremony father would perform later for grandmother sick... Continue Reading →
The End of Summer
I recently took a trip to Portland to see some old friends. I guess that’s the gist of my trips these days. I’m not really looking for new adventures, I’m just looking to keep those old relationships. Maybe I’m doing it wrong but I can live with that for the time being. I didn’t do... Continue Reading →
An Excerpt from A Son’s Loyalties – The Park (Chapter Four)
This is an excerpt from a novel I'm working on. I would appreciate any feedback. Thanks and have a great weekend. Heads turn when they see Kao’s dark blue car. He parks near two makeshift volleyball courts, where a mixture of Southeast Asians are playing. Most of them are Mien and Hmong and a few... Continue Reading →
Migrant Burden
Migraine headache ___a migrant backache ______from father to son. An American daughter-in-law _____our burden together. Donna wears her emotions on a flushed pale face washed with ivory cream ___what she brings to the table white rice _________mother taught her to wash and steam. Her father and brother wonder why I never finished business... Continue Reading →
I’m Back
After almost a two-year hiatus I'm ready to get this thing rolling again. I'll be providing literary content along with some musings and links to things I find amusing. That is probably not the best sentence I've ever written, but it rhymes so I'm going to ride with it. Lots of changes over the last... Continue Reading →
Fortune Cookies, Too
The son becomes the father _____when the father passes Your obligation becomes your life We replace the old __hardwood living room _____with thick gray carpet It's not an accident if you allow it Katie's waist thins over time stretches mark the months _____Billy depended on her Make sure to caress them __when you bathe Mother... Continue Reading →
Ramblings – The 2015 Late Spring Tupac Edition
June 16th, 1971/ Mama gave birth to a hellraising heavenly son… It's Tupac's 44th birthday. Reminds of high school where for two years I had either Me Against the World, All Eyez on Me or The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory in my car stereo. Yeah, rolling around the Central Valley in a lifted... Continue Reading →
The Next Day
This is an old poem I wrote about fathers and sons, relationships, love and being an immigrant. I think I wrote it a half dozen or so years after my father passed and maybe a year or two after I broke up with a woman who I thought I was going to marry. I think... Continue Reading →
Fortune Cookies
My father speaks before the family at the dinner table. __[My mother provides the translations.] Upon birth I cried, coming out headfirst. “Happy days are just over the mountaintop. ____The struggle has ended.” She brings countless plates; __frisbees with food for my American friends. He eyes them and grins. (Chew. Don’t choke. ____Moderation is key.)... Continue Reading →
Welcome to Great Falls – A Serial Novel – Parts 1-16
For anyone who didn't start reading from the beginning, I created this file so you wouldn't have to navigate from post to post to read in chronological order. As the title of the post indicates, these are parts one through sixteen. Just a warning though, there about 16,000 words in this document. Once again, thank you... Continue Reading →
Mister Saechao 