Let’s Kill Lieutenant Chan

Everything she said could have, should have, bothered him, if he were normal.  But it didn’t because he wasn’t normal at … More

The Filmmaker

He’d switched from champagne to beer. He’d disappeared from the reception down in the main ballroom, and I’d decided to … More

The Odor

For as far back as I can recall in my childhood, I collected baseball cards. There was a period when … More

Not That Hungry

Chris had no idea his father knew something about formal Filipino weddings. His father had warned him that not all … More

It’s Late

Back in the day, when he figured he’d never be one of the victims, he’d duck into Safeway, 7-Eleven, or … More

The Long Grass

I touch him carefully and wait. Nothing happens. I lay my hand on him, stroke him. This perks him up … More

Normal

If you lived an eternity in each moment, he wondered,why wouldn’t that mean you’d only ever live for a single … More

Old

She remembered that day, that one so long agoit seemed it was a dream, and that fond embraceso hard it … More

Recognition

Dreaming, he recollected the building as his old high school.Floating on air, he was transported into a classroom there.On the … More

Let Us Play

My heart movingBy and with youSomeone to play withA joy to say withLet’s playAgain and againLove’s replayLet us play Up … More

Address Book

Tonight I’m looking through Mom’s old address book, pages worn and browned,some so brittle the dog-eared corners disintegrate as I … More

Passing On

About a year before it happened, when we were talking about his memoir,he told me he was “feeling a little … More

PTSD

I dream of my father today, the Battle of the Bulge,begun on this date in 1944, the fiercest European Theaterengagement … More

Guns and Musubi

I went to 7-Eleven this morning and found myself standing in the checkout line behind a police officer. Now me, … More

The 38th Parallel

I’m standing next to my Uncle Wonnie.  He’s peering through a viewing slot in the bunker.  The opening is about six inches, … More

Past Judgment at Starbuck’s

I don’t know you, but I’ll go ahead and guessoddly, measure you out in teaspoons, tick-tock,another spoon and dip and … More

Man Beats Mail, No Charges Pending

The mail I sent to myself from Koreacame to Hawai‘i slower than I’d guessed.I am no longer there, I’m now … More

In the Thick of It

I’m back in Korea, the birthplace of my father’s parents,which means I’m again seeing people everywherewho appear as though they … More

The Struggle in Korea, Too

Old women here bend over trash cans searching for recyclablesjust as they do back home, these aged, frail women who … More

The Shapes of Friends

If you exist but have no friends, no circle of friends, are you a simply a dot? I was asked … More