Collage 19

Yesterday I turned two. It was a great way to close my second year, spending time with family in Austin and Seattle, and seeing the great Northwest.

Mama was sad

When I turned two

For she thought that

I’d leave baby things behind

What is the difference

Between two years and

Two years plus a day

Or two years minus two days

Or two years plus three days

Or two years minus four days

I have to admit

The difference gets bigger

If I keep adding days

Or go back to when I was born

On the continuum

Of time

But I’ve digressed

Mama don’t you know

Some baby things will never

Be left behind

You are forever

Mama

And

Loved

Musing on Two Sisters

What happens to children caught in the tight corner at the juncture of the working class and the educated class? The engaging novel Two Sisters explores that question by beckoning you to enter the world of two young girls growing up in the 1950’s and 60’s in Vietnam. We veritably hear their poignant stories as the narrator follows Ha and Vy from their tiny cottage on the grounds of the mansion their father’s family owns through neighborhood friendships, trials at school, rocky relationships with their father’s family, a visit to their mother’s humble birth home, and on into the broader society.

Ha’s and Vy’s father passed away a few years ago. Although he was from an educated family, he fell in love with a beautiful woman from a rural and uneducated family. The relatives of their father had never accepted his marriage to their humble mother and were frustrated that she and her daughters were now part of their family. To accommodate them, their father’s parents and siblings afforded them a small cottage without electricity and allowed the mother to work as a servant for the food and home they received. At the beginning of the novel, we picture the young girls in their dark cottage, doing all chores and homework before night fell. As the story progresses, that actual darkness in their environment is mirrored in the experiences of their lives.

The trajectory of their lives is foretold in the first pages of the book, when at Christmas time instead of quivering with excitement, they “dejectedly sit down on the porch to swallow their sorrow, blending in with the surroundings, taking in their solitude and familiarity.” At the same time, their Young Aunt wears her Vietnamese dress with two long panels, “separated at the waist, flowing gracefully in the gentle breeze. Young Aunt wears her hair high up in a bun, exposing her elegant white neck and her pearl necklace that shines like a string of tiny glass ornaments.” That dichotomy weaves its way through the whole novel, underscoring the timeless tale of the haves and have-nots, the in-group and the out-group, the bullies and the bullied, the oppressed and the oppressors.

However, in this tale we see and feel not only the pain and anguish of the mother and her daughters, but also of their relatives, the ones who inhabit the “big house.” The reader may believe that we need to be cheerleaders for the sisters, but in the intricate interplay of this family, we need to support each character in some manner. Each has their own pathos. It is that interplay that moves the girls into adolescence, the aunts into maturity, and the family into a realization. In the final pages of the book, Ha queries, “Don’t you think [we] should be helped and loved, rather than despised and hated? . . . Is it true that we cannot love each other if we don’t understand each other?”

Between the first and last pages lie poignant and profound experiences that define the lives of Ha, Vy, their mother and relatives. And in that definition, we have an intricate glimpse into Vietnamese society, culture, mores, and history.

The power of the novel lies in the author’s deep understanding of the norms that governed Vietnam society in the 50’s and 60’s as well as the emotional development of young girls in that environment. She implants us into a city teeming with all of its pretentiousness and privilege coupled with the pain of poverty, takes us into rural Vietnam and introduces us to a more humble and modest life, and injects us deeply into the passions, desires, agonies, fears, resourcefulness, and ingenuity of the two sisters. The altering and developing relationships of the family members are mesmerizing, ensuring the book will seldom rest for long on a bedside table.

This is one of many books written in Vietnamese by Cung Thi Lan. It is the second book Diem-Tran Kratzke has translated from Vietnamese into English. Together the two authors paint a vivid picture of the landscape, society, social system, and culture that defined Vietnam fifty years ago.

It’s a place worth the visit through the pages of Two Sisters.

                                                 ------  Jane Cruz

Collage 18

May your joy be pure and simple

And your steps be light and gay

May someone knit you a hat

And send tender kisses your way

May you be carried by strong arms

And childhood swings let you go high

May your friends be there for you

In good times and when you cry

May you waken from your sleep

Into a world full of wonders to find

May you be touched by the magic of God’s creation

And the Christmas lights shine in your heart

All year long

Six Days of November

A Gorge-ous Day in Waimea of Kauai

Where lay before my eyes

The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

Cradling a silvery cascade of water

And whose earth colors

Magically arrange themselves layer by layer

Mystically giving humans an awe

For being just a speck in the universe

A Gorge-ous Day on the Awa’awapulu Trail

To be rewarded at the end

With a vista no words can display

From where we sat and trembled

Over two thousand feet below us

The Na’Pali cliffs meet the Na’Pali coastline

In the vast of Nualolo and Awa’awapulu valleys underneath

The white birds and the helicopters flew

Into Alice’s Wonderland we stumbled

While hiking on the Kalalau Trail

To arrive at the Hanakapi’ai white-sand Beach

Known to be gone in the winter

But was there for us to wonder

I was Alice who had shrunk

Among the roots and ferns of giants

Half expecting to see a white rabbit be late

I was in a Disneyland make-believe

Of an enchanted forest

The scales had tipped for the flora

I could wrap myself in leaves and get lost in bamboo clusters

Around the bends the ocean showed

A beautiful turquoise when struck by sunlight

A giant web spread in the tall grass

Lending us enthrallment and admiration

Flowers were in bloom if I looked closely

Birds of colors flew away if I walked too loudly

Water seeped in my shoes if I crossed a stream

Without removing them to carry in my hand

Flat areas of helicopter landing we must pass

Warning signs of falling rocks and rising water

And hazardous cliffs we must mind  

To see Hanakapi’ai Falls drop ninety meters at our feet

The Big Island welcomed us

To its rocky shores and black-sand beaches

Where giant turtles and colorful fishes swam

While white waves clashed to crevices and cracks

Tree roots seemed to grow on rocks

And tree trunks seemed to bend at will

Black crabs crawled away on wet rocks

And children knee-deep in water played at the seawall

In the evening we went Pele’s Way

She beckoned us to come and chose us to see

The spectaculars of her might and glory

She gave us heat and a sight to behold

She whispered a blessing to the brave souls

Who crossed muddy tortuous paths in the rain

In darkness to witness her creation

Of lava flowing from the bowels of her depth

We could not leave Big Island without seeing a sunset

From Mauna Kea summit we wanted to be

For some say it’s as close as heaven as one gets

The road to Mauna Kea from Rainbow Falls was foggy

But as we climbed higher the sky got clear

We rested at Onizuka Center at nine thousand feet

Where the silverswords grow on dry land

On the stairway to heaven they glittered and shone

But looked lonesome for being apart one by one

As we ascended the rocky soil to the summit

The air grew thin and the temperature dropped low

There were no signs of familiar fauna and flora  

A feeling of being out of this world engulfed me

So to this adventure I named it Mars

After passing iron-rich red mounds of earth

An awesome view of sky and telescopes emerged

At the summit we felt a little woozy

Thus we slowed our steps and breathed in more deeply

When the sun came down and colors filled the sky

We were struck with a splendor above the white clouds

And from below them Mauna Loa poked through

Another wonder of creation that will forever be etched in our minds

We bid Big Island adieu and to Oahu we returned

The day was awaiting with more to explore

An easy hike through a bamboo forest we scored

At Nu’uanu Pali where we wanted to be

Before embarking on the steep ridgeline

My shirt got sweaty so I took it off

While being careful to not fall to the right

Which opens to a beautiful view at a scary height

When the trail ended I did not know

A wonderful thing called Pali Puka waited for me right below

What a surprise to see Chinaman’s Hat and the sea

Through this hole in the rocks that was under me

We lounged at Waimanalo Beach after the Puka Find

To relax and enjoy until the rain said hi

The last day found us on the Aiea Loop of Keaiwa Heiau

I called this Roots Hike for the trail was full of exposed roots

The path was broken up with fallen trees

But it was dry and not muddy underfoot

We stopped at its mid-point to enjoy

The scenic portion of H3 highway with mountains around it

These were the six days that I would not trade

For comfort, sauna baths, or gold and myrrh

There simply was not a single day

That Hawaii didn’t poke me and say “Hey”

Even as we were at the departing gate

Honolulu gave us a parting gift of a rainbow ray

It was such a sweet send-off we received

That it gave us pause and made us ponder a return

Collage #17

Life is full of wonder

Mama’s a heartbeat away

Heartbeats are a stethoscope away

Stethoscopes are with Daddy always

Life is loaded with magic

I was a knight in armor

Protecting my lady in red

Wearing my heart on my cheek

Life is tons of fun

Swimming in clear water

Being upside down, feet in the air

Swinging by myself on a disk

Life is dark chocolate

Smearing on my face

And eating chicken and rice

With abandon and glee

Life is embracing

Hugging and kissing

Touching and loving

Or merely being next to you

Life is riding high

On Daddy’s shoulders

And losing myself in play

As when I drove a blue tractor

Life is butterflies

When not fluttering near flowers

Are immortalized as benches

For me to sit and muse on

Life is being taken care of

And taking care of

The smallest treasures

Life is full of pleasures

Collage #16

I want to tell you of summer time

When watermelons are red and horses are white

Sliding down the water slide on my side is so fine

So is mommy’s skin when hers touches mine

Her laughs are contagious, her smiles radiant

I want to be with her - that should be no surprise

I have her energy, one of a kind

Running all day long, resting minimized

I like the swings in the park that go high

The bars to be grasped by my hands and held tight

The wall with blue knobs for my feet to align

The double slide where daddy and I go side by side

I love the summer breeze that blows my hair wild

The water park where my friend and I abide

The trampoline that makes you’re glad you’re alive

The barrel tractor on which mommy and I ride

I would not mind if summer stays a while

But then -

Summer things must end when summer's gone

Changing seasons are made when the earth revolves

Pumpkins orange and green adorn the ground I walk on

Standing at the door step in my black and orange spider shirt

I hear the wind whisper - fall's just arrived.

Life's Little Pleasure - 100-word snippet

When I was a child, I always wished the taxi rides would go on longer. But that did not happen in Saigon, capital of former Republic of Vietnam. We rarely took a taxi and never ventured outside of the small city. Now I feel my wish is fulfilled when I get on the bus in the early dawn to commute to work. Sometimes I read, but unless the book is too compelling to put down, I reserve some time to just sit and enjoy the ride. When it is cold outside and the heat is on, I feel pure bliss.