Red Thread: Poems

By Teresa Mei Chuc

This collection of poems is largely autobiographical, telling the turning points in a life that began in war-torn Vietnam. Somehow, unlike many, Teresa and her family survived, although her parents were separated for a long time. She, her brother, and her mother escaped Vietnam in a ship crowded with frightened immigrants, and in time they settled in California, bringing with them their nightmares, their memories, their history and culture. Family is a recurring and insistent theme in this book. Teresa devotes her art to her grandmother, her mother, her brother, her son. This is the story of a refugee family who settled in California, bringing with them their nightmares, their memories, their history and culture. “Teresa Mei Chuc’s poems speak from the heart of one woman’s experience, and expand beyond the personal to reveal and record the common experienceof multitudes.... The 'American experience,’ what is it? Chuc’s RedThread offers us all another piece in this difficult puzzle.--Lowell Jaeger, Editor, New Poets of the American West

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel & Daniel Publishers
• Release date: Mar 4, 2015
• ISBN: 9781564747679

Book preview

Red Thread

poems

Teresa Mei Chuc

2012 · FITHIAN PRESS, MCKINLEYVILLE, CALIFORNIA

Copyright © 2012 by Teresa Mei Chuc

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-56474-767-9

The interior design and the cover design of this book are intended for and limited to

the publisher’s first print edition of the book and related marketing display purposes.

All other use of those designs without the publisher’s permission is prohibited.

Published by Fithian Press

A division of Daniel and Daniel, Publishers, Inc.

Post Office Box 2790

McKinleyville, CA 95519

www.danielpublishing.com

Cover painting Blue Layers by Ann Phong, artist, art instructor at Cal Poly Pomona University, http://annphongart.com

Distributed by SCB Distributors [phone]

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chuc, Teresa Mei.

 Red thread : poems / by Teresa Mei Chuc.

      p. cm.

 ISBN [first printed edition] 978-1-56474-528-6 (pbk. : alk. paper)

 I. Title.

 PS3604.O9393R43 2013

 811’.6--dc23

                                2011045743

For Alexander, Nikolai, Kainani

and for Earl J. McGillen

"The sky has nothing

why does it comfort me..."

—Hai Zi

According to Chinese legend, an invisible red thread connects those who are destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstance. The thread may stretch or tangle, but it will never break.

In addition, the red thread is a protection and blessing cord in Buddhist tradition. It keeps the wearer in the compassionate embrace of the bodhisattvas.

Contents

Cartography of Family

The Bomb Shelter

Not Worth a Bullet

Immigration

Cockroaches

Welding

Vietnam Ghost Stories

Gong-gong, Por-por

Hut-yee

Quantum Equation

Rose

Moon Festival

A Story of Mother and Daughter

Cartesian Product

Hugging My Grandma

Grandma (A Hologram)

Wired Swan

Journey

Truth is Black Rubber

Truth is Black Rubber

Agent Orange

Song of Massacre

A Priori

Water Buffalo

H’mong

Saigon

Photosynthesis

Cashews

Maps

Intimacy

How Chopsticks Were Invented

Bike Accident

Resourcefulness

L’art D’aimer

Chinese Female Kung-Fu Superheroes

The Unknown Woman

Newton’s First