Like some cat from Japan she ate burgers and fries
in the heat of summer her blonde hair turned to white
kissed by the sun but pale as a pearl in a clam
even her round blue eyes gave away her descent
Stacey was like the rest a young American
other kids didn't know she was born in Japan
maybe I learned later but that doesn't matter
everyone in Cali was from there or elsewhere
Cali kids only cared if you were a local
ask me if it mattered that I was born abroad
that Stacey and I were both young Americans
Foreigners got treated with a genteel distance
real subtle so children wouldn't notice the way
older people would ask where are you from to me
my brown skin never burned in the heat of summer
Just another Asian unlike my friend Stacey
as she was born by chance not in America
perhaps I too was born by chance in India
accidentally my birth not in America
never gave me the chance to feel American
Ask Stacey if she cared when we met the first time
Years ago three decades past doubt she'd remember
only elephants have memories eternal
until they must return to the graveyard of bones
no even if this cat from Japan could recall
guess it doesn't matter with a friend from childhood
Ask me if it matters how others made me feel
mainly an immigrant a son of immigrants
exiled from my homeland from the mother country
released into the wild the new world settled by
ignorant immigrants with a kill or be killed
conception of others manifest destiny
as the driving force to cleanse the land of natives
now ask me how I feel about Americans
Whatever you may think of well-formed opinions
elegantly stated from the right or the left
little does it matter how you choose to describe
literate fools like me who write in verse for fun
However you view me I wouldn't give a fuck
unless you tried to harm someone other than me
no matter what you say or write in a review
guess what your views reflect and project mindlessly
Ask me if I ever felt like a citizen
nobody gives a damn if we assimilate
don't tell me otherwise about your hopeless news
Snort some more cocaine numb the brain from feeling pain
no one knows more than Trump about the seventies
only I was a kid a latch-key foreign-born
worthless speck of dust meant to clean up after you
Welcome us with open arms to clean your latrines
history will not note the Asian invasion
in terms of a transfer into a stable land
terror across the globe by our military
eventually comes to bite us in the ass
Tragedy builds resolve for blood vengeance to reign
as violence allows victims to seek payment
needless retribution defines humanity
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