hines ward jr. lunches at the blue house 2006
the unrolled red carpet of the terminal gate
trips the patent shoes of shutterbugging press
calling “-nim excuse us -nim one word one picture”
over the jet engines of commercial airplanes
south korean reporters—critical but mindful—
enquire “here -nim is it in fact true -nim
some koreans in suits & glasses once spat upon the face of your mother—”
but i am a short time later behind limousine tint
outside seoul on yeongjong-yongyu island in the west
called here in that honorific ending “-nim”
mom adding they call you -nim son”
& moments later the two of us walk a path outside
where the mountains backdrop the smooth–blue tiles
on a palace roof the fragrance flowering rose of sharons
inside the valley the good son a giant half-black
christened hines ward jr. slows my step
“but if we were to have stayed here” “here” i see
is not america & “geomdung–i” signifies it all
like the word nigger for as a mixed blood i would’ve witnessed
this word one time too many
“we would’ve been the poorest who ever begged—the poorest”
who else because to be a mixed blood in korea is to be the poorest
means never to be idolized but moments ago with mom
when her people crowd toward a podium
flashes in a jumping media horde cameraphones
pop upon one mic to show sponsors
a poster of jersey 86 to make the front page news
as mom remembers everything “can a boy
change them in a second change them of two thousand years”
& perhaps they shift just a little this hero of success
in korea: pariah heralded
fostered under mom’s blood & tears mom
every single day scrubbing the cafeteria sinks
of a blue collar school after job after another job
chapping hands blistering up to
elbows but now in peace smiling
at mom “you never have to be ashamed again
you can come & go here wherever you never have to be ashamed
you’re god blessed no apologies needed again” as long as hines ward
is full now eating beef & ginseng dishes
inside the blue house because then again
i am the one & only “mvp” hines ward undeterred
by the path for the virtually outcast unforgiven
i outcatch all steelers stallworth & swann
with each possible play everything made alright
today i tossed pigskin around with president moo-hyun roh
& expressed to mom “you loved a foreigner—& this is what you got
indeed your folk can eat a slice of humble pie” 
hines ward jr. lunches at the blue house 2006
a playground in daegu
the wild wild east