A Long Remembering: Return to Vietnam

by Kay Mullen

From the book:

A Long Remembering

The days of my life are few enough.
Turn your eyes away, leave me a little joy
before I go to the place of no return.
Job 10

1975: Two miles from Tan San Hhut Airport,
a cargo plane ascended, loaded with children.
A pressure door broke away, cables severed.
The plane crash-landed in a rice field.
2000: We walk through weeds,
holding clusters of colored balloons
with names attached. At the site,
incense sticks mark the place with prayer.
Tibetan chimes ring for infants, children, adults.
Three in our midst, survivors.
Sky fills with color as names are read,
Anh Tinh, Phuong Lange, Be Lowe-
Out of your smile will bloom a flower.
Songs, chants, Vietnam will rise

and from her sufferings birth a new
soft cradle for the Buddha-to-Come.
We honor each woman who perished, her price
far above rubies. One poem addresses a child
the mother will never know, a flame of hope
burned out with the wind.
Three join hands in a long remembering.

A Boeing 747 descends for landing.
A farmer burns a nearby field.
Dry reeds crackle, thick smoke swirls.

76 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Kay Mullen grew up in Iowa and was educated at the University of Washington and Pacific Lutheran University, where she earned an MFA. She received the William Stafford Award from the Washington Poets Association Conference.

She has worked as a teacher and school counselor in Renton, Washington. Her son is an adopted Vietnamese war orphan.