Where to?
Toronto.
What’s you name?
My name is Chen-ou Liu,
but you can call me Eric,
because it's easier for you to say.
Are you Chinese?
Well… kind of.
Huh?
I was born in Taiwan,
so I guess that makes me a non-Chinese Chinese.
(A blank look! Momentary silence)
I see you’re holding a Canadian passport.
So are you Chinese or Canadian?
Well, you see my skin color,
but I would rather say
I'm neither Chinese nor Canadian
because of the homes I’ve had,
the ways I’ve become.
I am Chinese-Canadian.
II
Canadian yet hyphenated,
effortlessly slipping
from “How are you?”
to “ Ma Ma Fu Fu,”
sitting in a cubicled office,
arguing with my Anglo colleagues,
after work haggling over prices
with vendors in bustling Chinatown,
watching Hockey Night in Canada
and Jackie Chan kick some ass.
Sometimes, I feel
I am a Chinese
born in Canada,
but I often proclaim
to be a Canadian
and don’t mention the Chinese part.
In a land of opportunity, I live
the double life of Eric Liu
by masking the discomfort
of being prejudged bilaterally.
Note:
1. According to classical Chinese poetics, a poem sequence is a group of poems by one poet or perhaps even by two or more poets intended to be read together in a specific order. The integrity of a poem sequence is dependent on this prescribed order of presentation. A poem sequence by a single author is sustained throughout by a single voice and point of view, and it shows consistency in style and purpose from one poem to the next. The defining characteristic of a poem sequence is that each poem must have its own value and integrity yet contribute to the artistic wholeness of the sequence while keeping the logical progression of events.
2 "Ma Ma Fu Fu” is a Chinese idiom, which literally means I'm doing OK.
December 2009 issue of Word Catalyst
