MPR’s Marianne Combs profiles Vietnamese American spoken word artist Bao Phi, who talks of the how racial trauma affects both his poetry and life. Phi also discusses his collection, “Thousand Star Hotel.”
Transcript:
The accomplished writer and spoken word artist Bao Phi is preparing for the release of his second book of poetry. Phi has drawn national attention for his honest portrayal of race and class in America. He says the birth of his daughter compelled him to look deeper at his own troubled upbringing. Marianne Combs has more. [[Bao Phi was just three months old when his family fled the war in Vietnam in the mid-70s. "Violence has been a part of my life since forever" His family settled in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, where their neighbors associated them with a failed war, and the enemy. "People thought we were stealing their pets and eating them... People would routinely say things like "go back to where you come from..." that's not counting police brutality from authority figures." Phi remembers one time when his father was repairing the garage after it had been vandalized yet again. He started yelling in Vietnamese that he was in pain. Phi wrote a poem about it that appears in his latest book "Thousand Star Hotel" - here's an excerpt: "I want my dad to be normal - not yell in his foreign tongue that everyone is out to get him. I'm sure they're just mosquitoes, but I'm too scared of him to tell him. I'm sure they're just mosquitoes, even when I see dull lead fragments sticking into his brown skin. I didn't want to believe him, even as I helped him wash his wounds." Someone had been taking pot shots at Phi's father with a BB-gun. Phi says he wrote the poem in part as an apology to his parents. As a young immigrant, he found himself caught between the society he lived in, and the cultural differences of his parents. "I wanted to NOT be victimized, right? I didn't want to be different, I didn't want us to be the targets that we obviously were." Bao Phi is an accomplished writer and spoken word artist. His first book of poems "Song I Sing" was praised by the New York Times. But he says he didn't really start writing about his youth until the birth of his daughter. Phi remembers visiting a clinic with his then-partner for a pre-natal consultation. "One of the questions was, have you or anyone in your family been traumatized by war. And //of course we had been traumatized by war, of course, but I don't think it really hit me until that moment sitting there - the idea of passing my trauma down to my child became very very real." (sound up of Bao and Song) Bao Phi now lives in an apartment in Powderhorn Park with a roommate. He's a single co-parent of his seven year old daughter. He's also Program Director at the Loft Literary Center, where he has fostered a vibrant and diverse spoken word and poetry scene. "For those of us who are marginalized people, //creative writing, storytelling, prose, poetry - // these are our history books, because we're left out of history." "Thousand Star Hotel" wrestles with the prejudice Phi faced as a child, and the deep lack of self esteem that came with it. Writer David Mura has known Phi since he was a junior at Macalester. He says "Thousand Star Hotel" dispels the myth of the Model Asian American, and explores what it means to be a working class kid of color. "Bao in particular is a writer who's particularly focused on race and who's openly angry about the state of race in America. He's not trying to go, oh, it's okay. More often than not he's telling the reader, listen, it's far worse than you think it is." Mura says Phi is one of a handful of Vietnamese-American authors who are carving out a space for themselves, giving voice to their experiences, and also to the legacy of the Vietnam War. Phi says in many ways "Thousand Star Hotel" is a bittersweet gift to his daughter. "Anything could take me from this life. And if that happens, for whatever reason, what is my daughter going to have to know that I existed? What is she going to know about this trauma that I passed on?// I wanted her to have something." Bao Phi's new book of poetry, "Thousand Star Hotel" is published by Coffee House Press. The Loft Literary Center will host a release party on July 12. Phi's first children's book, "A Different Pond," inspired by memories of fishing with his father, comes out in August. Covering the arts, I'm Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio news. ]]
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TOM CRANN: The accomplished writer and spoken word artist, Bao Phi, is preparing for the release of his second book of poetry. Phi has drawn national attention for his honest portrayal of race and class in America. He says the birth of his daughter compelled him to look deeper at his own troubled upbringing. Marianne Combs has more.
MARIANNE COMBS: Bao Phi was just three months old when his family fled the war in Vietnam in the mid '70s.
BAO PHI: Violence has been a part of my life since forever.
MARIANNE COMBS: His family settled in the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis, where their neighbors associated them with a failed war and the enemy.
BAO PHI: People would routinely say things like go back to where you come from. People thought we were stealing their pets and eating them.
MARIANNE COMBS: Phi remembers one time when his father was repairing the garage after it had been vandalized yet again. He started yelling in Vietnamese that he was in pain. Phi wrote a poem about it that appears in his latest book, Thousand Star Hotel. Here's an excerpt.
BAO PHI: I want my dad to be normal, not yell in his foreign tongue that everyone is out to get him. I'm sure they're just mosquitoes, but I am too scared of him to tell him. I'm sure they are just mosquitoes even when I see dull lead fragments sticking into his brown skin.
MARIANNE COMBS: Someone had been taking pot shots at Phi's father with a BB gun. Phi says he wrote the poem in part as an apology. As a young immigrant, he found himself caught between the society he lived in and the cultural differences of his parents.
BAO PHI: I wanted to not be victimized, right? I didn't want to be different. I didn't want us to be the targets that we obviously were.
MARIANNE COMBS: Bao Phi is an accomplished writer and spoken word artist. His first book of poems, Song I Sing, was praised by The New York Times. But he says he didn't really start writing about his youth until the birth of his daughter. Phi remembers visiting a clinic with his then partner for a prenatal consultation.
BAO PHI: One of the questions was, have you or anyone in your family been traumatized by war? And of course, we had been traumatized by war. Of course. But I don't think it really hit me until that moment, the idea of passing this trauma down to my child became very, very real.
MARIANNE COMBS: Phi sits in his apartment in Powderhorn Park, cuddling with his now seven-year-old daughter.
BAO PHI'S DAUGHTER: It's from a book.
BAO PHI: Which book?
BAO PHI'S DAUGHTER: It's one that I got from the library at school.
BAO PHI: Yeah.
BAO PHI'S DAUGHTER: It's called Those Darn Squirrels!
BAO PHI: Really? And is it about--
MARIANNE COMBS: Phi divides his time between being a single co-parent and being the program director of the Loft Literary Center, where he has fostered a vibrant and diverse spoken word and poetry scene.
BAO PHI: For those of us who are marginalized people, creative writing, storytelling, prose, poetry-- it's like these are our history books because we're left out of history.
MARIANNE COMBS: Thousand Star Hotel wrestles with the prejudice Phi faced as a child, and the deep lack of self-esteem that came with it. Writer David Mura has known Phi since Phi was a junior at Macalester. He says Thousand Star Hotel dispels the myth of the model Asian-American, and explores what it means to be a working class kid of color.
DAVID MURA: Bao is a writer who's particularly focused on race, and who is openly angry about the state of race in America. He's not trying to go, oh, it's OK. And more often than not, he's telling the reader, listen, it's far worse than you think it is.
MARIANNE COMBS: Mura says Phi is one of a handful of Vietnamese-American authors who are carving out a space for themselves, giving voice to their experiences, and also to the legacy of the Vietnam War. Phi says in many ways, Thousand Star Hotel is a bittersweet gift to his daughter.
BAO PHI: Anything could happen to me, right? Anything could take me from this life. If that happens, for whatever reason, what is my daughter going to have to know that I existed? What is she going to know about this trauma that I passed on? And I wanted her to have something.
MARIANNE COMBS: Bao Phi's new book of poetry, Thousand Star Hotel is published by Coffee House Press. The Loft Literary Center will host a release party on July 12th. Phi's first children's book, A Different Pond, inspired by memories of fishing with his father comes out in August. Covering the arts, I'm Marianne Combs, Minnesota Public Radio News.