vietnam through a broken lens

rice and noodles have made it hard for me to poop
i miss the peeling off skins of black beans flavored with salsa lizano
and bilingual thoughts
but i am here steaming and sweating like a potato baking in its skin
here is a place that i never thought i would last
a place i don't understand
filled with plastic bags and a lilting choppy language i can't claim to know
i stumble through hello and thank you often speaking vietnamese to laoatians
and responding with 'si' as often as 'yes'
but here i have found a part of myself that i never expected to discover

(view of hoi an from thu bon river, bow of boat on thu bon river and my bia larue -- i returned the bottles to a very pleased vietnamese man, fishing on the thu bon, sunset)