Kaohsiung, 1945
after Paul Tran
If there is too much blood on my hands
just say it.
If you hate my touching
what cannot be touched
could only permit me to touch
not you not even war
could open the thighs
I have opened the wet edens
I have unearthed then sewed
up back in my house
I catch beasts I marry
oil with water I clean my garden
gather mouthfuls of babies
to wash in the river of the disappeared
& unanointed where your ladies tell me
stay back I stay
in.