Three Women

Marilyn Buck

1999

for Bich

two women sit on the couch
a third on her heels
between them a bench
     a private tableau carved in
     crowded prison space

Vietnamese
dashed with English
skims across the din
they spoon out
rice fish
a bit of pirated green
Americanized soy sauce
reconstituted by secrets from home
transforms the instant

May 1999
This poem appeared in
Feminist Studies, v 30 # 2, 2004