in memory of Vincent Chin and of poems written long ago

Lucky Numbers

I saw six children
That might have sat around my chair
and asked their old ye-ye
to sing them songs
and tell them stories

I saw eight years later
where the 90's would have started
where I might have been deemed a
successful
rich
American

I saw nine eight-sided baguas
that might have been at my wedding
that my beautiful bride
might have looked in
to see her reflection

I saw the number four
over and over and over again
as the irony of the pun played
through my head,
as it leaked out onto the street

I saw the character for seven
or perhaps it first saw me
and named me after itself
(but I'm not really gone
you can't get rid of me that easily)

I saw two baseball bats
two blows, to the knee, then the head
two men without two sentences
and the two words of my name
that named a revolution

- June 23, 1982