To the Lady - Mitsuye Yamada

[saerwen_13]

I read this poem while going through the recommendations for that anthology assignment I was talking about earlier, and I could only think one thing: "YES. THIS." Thanks a bunch to
luna_glass_wall  for recommending it to me.

To the Lady
Mitsuye Yamada

The one in San Francisco who asked:
Why did the Japanese Americans let
The government put them in
Those camps without protest?

Come to think of it, I
                Should've run off to Canada
                Should've hijacked a plane to Algeria
                Should've pulled myself up from my
                Bra straps
                And kicked 'em in the groin
                Should've bombed a bank
                Should've tried self-immolation
                Should've holed myself up in a
                Woodframe house
                And let you watch me
                Burn up on the six o'clock news
                Should've run howling down the street
                Naked and assaulted you at breakfast
                By AP wirephoto
                Should've screamed bloody murder
                Like Kitty Genovese

Then
YOU would've
                Come to my aid in shining armor
Laid yourself across the railroad track
Marched on Washington

Tattooed a Star of David on your arm
Written six million enraged
Letters to congress

But we didn't draw the line
Anywhere
Law and order Executive Order 9066
Social order moral order internal order