The stories my dad told me
When I was a little boy
Before the monsters woke from sleeping
And I lost all my joy:
They bathed inside a dirty lake
Right close by the village
And he made the beatles fight
To see who had the pillage
Ants crawling and biting him
All around his baby body
And if he ever hurt himself
His dad beat him for being naughty
He was super furious
When he saw he killed the chicken
For lightning then could strike them down
Angered the gods by the killing
He often played where he stayed
And he was punished for his fell
After he played with the girl
And pushed her down the well
His sister always said she never liked it
And she was filled with wrath
When she found they snuck in frogs
Angry while they laughed
It was extra hard; not a life of ease
And they sometimes had dealings
The hatred of the Vietnamese
After he came to the USA
And he was admitted into school
A racist white boy harassed him
For being asian he was cruel
He called him dumb and a monkey
But after weeks of endless abuse
He finally lost his cool
And he beat him until severely bruised
And put a stop unto that fool
When he was later questioned for the beating
He told about it all
And he got no punishment
The white lady was sorry for it all
His disabled brother; always on his mat
He recognized him when he visited
Wide eyes “Ammlop! Ammlop!”
And I remember when he passed away
My dad was sad but he never cried
And after his mother’s birth for some reason she died