This poem is a reflection on first-generation college student Tiffany Ta\u27s family heritage. The piece focuses on the author\u27s grandmother, who Ta never really got to know

Ta, Tiffany P

English

Loyola Marymount University

First-Gen Voices: Creative and CriticalNarratives on the First-GenerationCollege ExperienceVolume 5Issue 1 New Vistas Article 11February 2016Did You?Tiffany P. TaSanta Clara UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/fgvPart of the Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Curriculum and Instruction Commons,Curriculum and Social Inquiry Commons, Educational Methods Commons, Fiction Commons,Illustration Commons, Interdisciplinary Arts and Media Commons, Nonfiction Commons, and thePoetry CommonsThis Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by the Academic Resource Center at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University andLoyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experienceby an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information, please contactdigitalcommons@lmu.edu.Recommended CitationTa, Tiffany P. (2016) "Did You?," First-Gen Voices: Creative and Critical Narratives on the First-Generation College Experience: Vol. 5 : Iss.1 , Article 11.Available at: http://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/fgv/vol5/iss1/11Did you walk, run, trot  down the dirt packed road smelling the rich, pungent incense   of nuoc mam or pho  Did you work wearing a mua  the straw hat shading your face as you pulled rice, hunched in ankle deep water until your hands bled picking your way to $2 a day  Did you let your long hair cascade between your shoulder blades silky and smooth  Did you stop going to school  Did you ever go to school  Did you walk through  the war torn streets of children crying out  for mothers already lost Fading  You stayed in Vietnam They left: sisters, brothers, wives, children to an unfamiliar place dangerous, new, smuggled  You had to stay behind walking the dirt packed road now filled with the memories of what used to be  Did you  Do you Have you lived your life. 

Did You?

https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1068&amp;context=fgv

Did You?

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Loyola Marymount University