Anti-Heroin Chic
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

​

3/19/2023

Joe By Bunkong Tuon

Picture
      Tim Sackton CC



Joe

Angry Joe sneering like a rabid dog. He wasn’t the tallest or biggest at the school, but at 5’7” and stringy he was taller and bigger than me. He bleached his hair jet black. He had the Misfits logo on the back of his jean jacket. I was 5’2”, brown skin, very thin, and a freshman, like Joe. 

Angry Joe, always walking fast, head down, kicking whatever was in his way. Rumor had it that his parents were getting a divorce. His father was a Vietnam veteran and was beating the crap out of his mom for the nightmares he had after the war. 

It didn’t matter to him that I was Cambodian. It was enough that I was from that part of the world that hurt his dad and mom, and Joe was hurt and angry. It didn’t matter that we breathed the same cold October air waiting for the same MTA bus that afternoon. It didn’t matter that we both were lost, confused, and scared. Unlike Joe, I wasn’t angry though. I was hurt, alone, and wanted a friend. I lost my parents to the war. They were gone, like forever gone.

When I saw him walking towards me, I smiled and almost bowed my head. He snarled in return. I heard growling from him. His teeth grinding. Maybe in his past life, he really was a dog. 

Then he bumped his chest against mine and pinned me against the wall of a Bank of America. His breath reeked of cigarettes and destruction. My back pressed hard against the cold hard wall.  

I was waiting for the bus at Malden Square. It was a beautiful crisp fall day. Sunlight warmed my face and hands. 

I looked around to see if anyone was willing to help. But other kids and a few adults didn’t seem to notice or care.  

Joe took a lighter from his jean jacket, clicked it once, and flame burst into being, thrashing itself in the wind. He moved the lighter slowly towards my face. 

I felt blood rushing to my face. I thought about America and why we came here in the first place. I didn’t have a choice. No one did. And here was Joe trying to burn my face off. 

I screamed, pushed him away, and ran towards the high school. I didn’t look over my shoulders for fear that Joe was right behind me. I ran and ran up those steps that led to the entrance of the high school. Once I crossed the threshold, I pulled the door close behind me, closed my eyes, and breathed. Oh, Lord Buddha, I had never been so happy to be back in that prison building.  




Bunkong Tuon is a Cambodian-American writer and critic. He is the author of 
several poetry collections. His prose and poetry have appeared or are forthcoming in New York Quarterly, Copper Nickel, The Lowell Review, Massachusetts Review, The American Journal of Poetry, carte blanche, Diode Poetry Journal, Paterson Literary Review, Consequence, among others. He teaches at Union College, in Schenectady, NY.    
​

Comments are closed.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    December 2024
    November 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    March 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.