2018 James Wright Prize in Poetry

 

In Hmong, many words begin the same way

But last letter determines everything

 

Screw up the last letter and 

 

                 Fish turns into salt

                 Horse into human

                 Sour into penis

 

You may like the word nyiam 

But if you substitute j for m, your word transforms into money 

Tack on a g for nyiag

and suddenly the money is stolen

 

A girl may start out as ntxhais 

But neglect the s 

and she becomes nothing more 

than the water 

left over 

from cooking rice