THE WRITERS POST

(ISSN: 1527-5467)
the magazine of Literature & Literature-in-translation.

VOLUME 7 NUMBER 2

JUL 2005

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 LUU HY LAC

_______________________________

 

NIGHT IN TENDERLOIN

 

Translated by Do Vinh

 

 

 

It’s night-time, very cold, a crowd

of black Americans still gathered below

the street askew-corner from the window

to my room, strange the ongoing

 

noise and sound that forbids

sleep;  i lean out the

window, weird! a crowd of

black Americans disorderly; i

 

glance about from the corner of the

street a white male loitering about, he is

looking for drugs, he approaches one

guy to the next, i shiver violently;

 

suddenly the black American crowd yells

out, got together and grabbed the white male;

oh, one after another they beat on him

i froze looking on

 

in outrage, there were black females just

as aggressive as the males kicking at him

and stepping on him;  i thought i really

don’t know what to do,

dial 911 with my choppy

English, the white male is about

to be beaten to death;

it’s dark, and very cold, i climb back into

 

bed shaking, curling in the corner

askew-corner from the window

to my room the white male lies stiffly

still, right above the street lamp there is

 

a sign in bold letters--

DRUG FREE ZONE.

 

                        TRANSLATED BY DO VINH

 

 

 

The Writers Post
the magazine of literature

& literature-in-translation,

founded 1999, based in the US.

 

VOLUME 7 ISSUE 2 JULY 2005

 

Editorial note: Works published in this issue are simultaneously published in the printed Wordbridge magazine (ISSN: 1540-1723).

Copyright © Luu Hy Lac 2005. Nothing in this magazine may be downloaded, distributed, or reproduced without the permission of the author/ translator/ artist/  The Writers Post/ and Wordbridge magazine. Creating links to place The Writers Post or any of its pages within other framesets or in other documents is copyright violation, and is not permitted.

 

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