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Does it matter?
Now,
here, today
That they were
grunts in Vietnam,
her father,
uncles, cousins
and that she
the niece,
daughter,
married an
Asian guy
Not a Vietnamese,
not a Japanese,
or a Chinese
but a neighbor
to Nam guy
That he spent years in
refugee camps
before he made
it here
All of those awful years
dreaming of a better
life, of America
That he finally made it.
Worked a decade, more,
for his phd,
fought
prejudice,
discrimination,
ridicule
Does it matter
That he has
a good job,
no a great job,
is a provider
is the father
of their grandchild,
their only grandchild
a half-Asian,
half-American
beauty?
Oh, yes it matters
A lot.
Alan Catlin is poetry editor of online journal misfitmagazine.net. His latest book of poetry is American Odyssey from Future Cycle Press.