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a free-write poem I wrote at Cát Nguyên's poetry booth at an art build fundraiser event & an open mic later that day in Hanoi for a free Palestine. 🍉

SOMETIMES WHEN I LOOK AT THE WRINKLES ON MY GRANDFATHER'S

HANDS, I THINK ABOUT ALL HIS PAST LIVES THAT I'LL NEVER TRULY KNOW;

THE VEINY LINES ON HIS SKIN LIKE A WEB OF COMPLEXITY OR THE ROOTS OF

A TREE. THEY WHISPER: THIS IS WHERE YOU COME FROM, ALL OF ME IS APART

OF YOU TOO. NEVER FORGET. OUR AGE DIFFERENCE ALREADY RENDERS US SO

FAR FROM EACH OTHER AS WE ARE SHAPED BY THE STRUCTURES, ENVIRONMENTS

& CIRCUMSTANCES OF OUR TIMES — EVERCHANGING BUT CAN'T EXIST

WITHOUT ONE ANOTHER. I WILL NEVER HAVE BREATHED DURING THE VIET NAM

WAR BUT I HAVE LIVED IT THROUGH YOU; NOR HAVE I SEEN THE FOREIGN SHIPS

ON THE HORIZON BRINGING ABOUT TO OUR LAND BROKEN PROMISES & UNIMAGINABLE

GRIEF TO MY ANCESTORS. NOW, EVERYWHERE I LOOK LIE GLIMPSES OF THE PAST —

ONLY WHICH TRANSFORMED INTO DIFFERENT NAMES & METHODS OF DESTRUCTION

& THE DEVASTATION IS ALL THE SAME. WE ARE DROWNED IN OUR OWN LAND &

OUR WATERS & OUR AIR & OUR HISTORIES & OUR SPIRITS & EVEN OUR HOPES FOR

A SAFER FUTURE WHERE ALL OF US IS FREE — A FUTURE WHERE WE NO LONGER

ARE DEPENDENT ON A SYSTEM THAT KILLS US IN RETURN; HIDDEN BEHIND SUITS

& COURTS & WHITEHOUSES LIE THE SHAMEFUL FACES RESPONSIBLE FOR NOT ONLY CURRENT

GENOCIDES BUT ONGOING DEVASTATIONS OF SOIL & ALL THE ECOSYSTEMS MEANT TO

KEEP US ALIVE; & THE ANNIHILATION OF A SACRED COLLECTIVE MEMORY WHERE SO

MANY STORIES WILL NEVER GET THE CHANCE OF BEING TOLD, SHARED & PASSED ON.

OUR EARTH'S BROTHERS & SISTERS & SIBLINGS ONLY SEPERATED BY AN ILLUSION

OF BORDERS — NOW LOSING PARENTS & AUNTIES & UNCLES & COUSINS & ALL THE MEMORIES

THAT THEY'LL NEVER GET TO BUILD — STOLEN FROM THEM. BY THEN HOW

CAN I NOT SEE THAT THE STRUGGLE IS ALL CONNECTED? THAT THE SAME COMPANIES

BUILT ON STARVING US IN OUR EXPLOITATION ALSO HELP MANUFACTURE WEAPONS OF

ENDING LIFE? WE NEED EACH OTHER MORE THAN EVER, & TO REMEMBER THE

SACRED RHYTHM OF THE EARTH IN OURSELVES. EVEN WHEN WE ARE NO LONGER

HERE, I HOPE THE WATERS REMEMBER OUR MEMORY. WE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT ONE

ANOTHER. WE MUST ENGAGE IN RECIPROCITY TO TRULY IMAGINE LIBERATION. WE

MUST SHOW UP FOR EACH OTHER & AGAINST OUR OPPRESSORS IN NUMBERS, & NEVER

ALONE. WE MUST SHARE OUR JOYS BUT ALSO GRIEF. WE MUST TRULY BE IN COMMUNITY

WITH CARE & WORK WITHOUT THE DESIRE OF PROFIT OR GAIN, BUT FOR LOVE —

LOVE AS AN ACTION, AS A FLOW, AS HEALING, LOVE AS BEING THERE TO LEND

A SHOULDER TO A FRIEND IN TEARS, FOR A COUNTRY IN NEED OF OUR

SUPPORT — WE MUSTN’T TURN AWAY, LOVE AS IN FREE PALESTINE & THE GLOBAL

SOUTH FROM THE CHAINS OF OPPRESSION, LOVE AS IN AFFIRMING OUR DIGNITY, LOVE

AS IN HOLD ON TO YOUR MEMORIES TIGHTLY, LOVE AS IN HEARING THE JOY & SOUNDS

OF LAUGHTER OF A LOVED ONE, LOVE SO THAT YOU CAN GRIEVE; GRIEVE SO THAT

YOU CAN LOVE, LOVE AS OUR TRANSFORMATIVE SOURCE, LOVE AS PERSEVERANCE,

LOVE AS REMEMBERING; LET US LOVE IN WAYS THAT TRANSCENDS & STAYS.