An Asian Am Nation

Way back
to the yes yes y'alls
when i tagged bathroom stalls and my brother had new wave posters wall
to wall

I dreamt of the times they dropped Agent Orange and called it Kool Aid
bound our feet and called it first aide

Woke up into a spirit rotation, a soul inflation: the Asian Persuasion
Asian my orientation, Asian American my nation
wanted to kick specifics about being Asian pacific
but they taxed my syntax/orientalized my oriental eyes
and blinded me with Full Metal Jacketed lies

While overseas/policies/let bygones become icons
on desktops/double click to open windows/into sweatshops
tried to get out but the doors were Jessica McLint-locked

Never the mellow yellow but rather yelled and bellowed
at those white fellows whoknocked me down
but i got back the fuck up again
coaxed by folk hymns, dead ringer for the revolution
leaving behind the brainwashed contusions,
red white and blue confusions
in a nation of computer generated illusions

They offered fame contracts/complete with blue contacts
assimilationisht hot dish/slit skin and split my ancestor's bones for a wish
buried our history under haunted trees
taught self hate by their taunts of Chinese Japanese dirty knees

They want to halt our progress
but we left 'em behind cuz we got more sides than a stop sign
unwind tongues/rewind time/to study our story and sing this song
with sloppy mathematics calculate the ragged ratio
of this yellow braggadocio and blow the speakers to their stereo/types
Hai Ba Trung delegated to a ching chong pantheon
but we castrate and bat around their white balls cuz we the ping pon
champions
so fuck their Buddha boxes and Bindi kits:
fake ass renditions of our anceint cultural traditions
we reclaim, remind, retwist our minds
for our persistence of resistance
this thing called us/flush/bullshit to flourish/nourish
like riche ciphers/decipher/cropped tongues from here to trife times
with truth rhymes/our wind chime choruses/forming audible life lines/
we recite/overturn/with vocal overtures

Asian American anthem
beyond Suzie Wong and Hop Sing bows
I'm singing for ya'll/so can ya hear me now
this is for my people who got turned down
but refused to yield
for Hawaii sun swear in sugar cane fields
for sisters pissed at Ling on Ally McBeal
for my brothers who stay strong without the steel
for those not on their knees from slipping on their own
banana peels
brainwashed colorblind
pushed aside
for culture pride

They can't evade this Asian American invasion
Yellow Nation
made up of crews rollin in Isuzus
with the buddhist trinkets ya mama gave you
hanging from the rearview
they call us slant-eyes
but we're clear view
and they're see thru
Dont be fooled, ya'll.

When will they learn?
The only time they see the light
is when their houses burn
Yellow Nation
time to
get up
wake up
stand up
make up
take up
lash out
strike out
make out
break
out

- - Thien-Bao Thue Phi