We Are Haunted by Names

Living on Ilha Formosa,
we are haunted by a war of Names,
fighting for the Republic of China/Taiwan.
We Chinese, we Taiwanese
will never end our civil war,
a bloody bloodless civil bore.

No Kamikazes crashing,
no Dr. Luther King murdered.
To Uncle Sam and Brother Momotaro,
We are the good soldiers.
Lacking the ghosts of History
we are haunted.

Winter 2010 issue of Rust+Moth