Listener Lyric

The second book we read in English was Citizen by Claudia Rankine. The book was a collection of lyrical essays (essays using poetic techniques and form) about the black experience in America. Because of the fact that we live in an area that isn’t all that diverse, reading these stories was a very eye opening experience for many of us. After reading the book, we were challenged to write our own lyrical essay from the point of view of someone different from us. My essay was written from the perspective of someone who was forced to flee their homeland of South Vietnam following the fall of Saigon in 1975. Without Further to do, I present to you April 30, 1975.

April 30, 1975

To write this piece, I interviewed my subject about their experience growing up and then having to flee their hometown of Can Tho. Then I wrote about that in a poetic essay.